The Fairbanks City Council made key decisions regarding historic spaces, approving a lease for the Fairbanks Children's Museum and an amended date for Requests for Proposal for the Polaris Building site. The mayor highlighted community outreach and safety concerns, discussing the future vision for downtown development.
FAIRBANKS, Alaska - Monday’s meeting of the Fairbanks City Council saw the group make crucial decisions regarding two unoccupied historic spaces downtown. At the meeting, officials unanimously approved a lease for the Fairbanks Children’s Museum to occupy space at city hall formerly held by the Boys and Girls Club of Fairbanks .
Officials also unanimously approved an amended May 1 opening date to begin accepting Requests for Proposal for the space where the now-demolished Polaris Building once stood. Mayor Mindy O’Neall expressed satisfaction with the current date for the RFP to go public, saying it aligns with the amount of time her office needs to complete community outreach while the parameters for the project are potentially adjusted. “There will be community outreach and we’ll be, we have scheduled focus groups that will talk about, you know, what is the direction of downtown and how is that a catalyst for this site, essentially. So, we’re not restarting the process. We’re simply building on it,” she said. The RFP is scheduled to be open for submissions until July 31, which O’Neall argues is not enough time for a project of this scope.“We’re using this space as an opportunity to have a discussion, a greater discussion about what does downtown look like in the future and how do we build that out over time in a consistent way,” O’Neall explained. So far, the mayor is hearing safety concerns from the community, as well as a desire for consistency from downtown businesses. “This is something that really speaks to the way that Fairbanks, and maybe Alaska overall, has been accustomed to designing towns, which is kind of the shotgun approach,” the mayor argued. “It’s kind of like what sticks this year, what sticks this decade, what can we afford, but what we’re hearing is if there was some consistency in building standards or hours and times where folks can expect to be downtown, they know that there’s going to be lights or know that there’s going to be activity, then that would encourage them to participate.” Meanwhile, the lease for the Fairbanks Children’s Museum was set at 40 years, lower than the 75 years that was previously being considered. “I think the council just felt more comfortable with... a long enough lease time that the Children’s Museum was able to go to funders and, you know, work on capital projects, but not so long as to, you know, tie them up into something that may not be useful in the future,” O’Neall said. While museum leaders said it will take them four years to move into the space, their application partner, the non-profit Fairbanks Wellness Coalition, is likely to move in within the first year, according to O’Neall.One man dead after Fairbanks mobile home firePreliminary autopsy results revealed for American college student found dead in water in SpainFairbanks food bank prepares for annual Empty Bowls fundraiser
Fairbanks City Council Downtown Development Leases Community Outreach
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