Project Overview

The City and Borough of Juneau Parks & Recreation Department is developing a Commercial Recreation Strategy driven by public input and supportive of CBJ policies and ordinances. Current regulations are over twenty years old and do not reflect new CBJ-managed parks and trails and new types of recreation use. This plan will evaluate City-managed parklands and trails for commercial use, recommending locations, restrictions, carrying capacities, intensity of use, and adaptive management guidelines, while also serving as a guideline reflective of community input and priorities for commercial recreation.

In 2023, Juneau had 1.64 million visitors, where 161,847 visited CBJ-managed parks and trails. Approximately 6,000 visitors used CBJ-managed trails (90% using the Rainforest Trail) and the remaining approximately 156,000 visited Overstreet Park, Brotherhood Bridge, Homestead Park, and the Last Chance Basin.

Neighborhood Meetings are being held in May with additional public meetings being held in June to review and comment on the preliminary recommendations and in July to review and comment on the revised recommendations. It is strongly encouraged to attend the neighborhood meetings.

NEIGHBORHOOD MEETINGS - Summer 2024

A critical component is to understand local priorities and understand where commercial use might be best suited. The community is invited to five neighborhood meetings that are being held in different areas across Juneau to collect input from the community, facilitate discussions regarding commercial use on CBJ-managed parks and trails, and provide an opportunity to discuss questions or concerns with the project team. Input collected at these meetings will help guide initial recommendations.

Each neighborhood meeting will focus on a specific area of town for discussion. Below is the list of trails and parks that will be considered at each meeting. Neighborhood meeting maps can be found under "Associated Documents."

Community Comments & Questions: During the five neighborhood meetings over the summer, CBJ received comments and questions from community members, which helped shape the approach to the plan. The community can find CBJ's responses to the questions and comments raised during the summer HERE.

PUBLIC OPEN HOUSE - October 2024

Join CBJ Parks & Recreation and Corvus Design for a public open house on Wednesday, October 30, to discuss draft updates to the commercial use strategy that is aimed at developing a thoughtful and strategic approach to commercial recreation on lands and trails managed by Parks & Rec. Stop by the Dimond Park Field House any time between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. to join the conversation.

Following several months of evaluation, including neighborhood meetings and community input, CBJ partner Corvus Design has completed a DRAFT Commercial Recreation Use Analysis Plan for review and comment. At the open house, you'll be able to read over the overall document, learn more about guidelines in your neighborhood, and submit a comment card. The open house will include stations for each neighborhood area—Douglas Island, Downtown Juneau & Thane, Twin Lakes & Lemon Creek, Mendenhall Valley & Auke Bay, and Out the Road—where you'll be able to look over neighborhood-specific draft permitting guidelines and chat with Parks & Rec and Corvus staff.

Community Comments & Questions: Following the release of the DRAFT plan, comments and questions were submitted by community members. Those received during the comment period, which ended on November 8, can be found HERE.

PRAC MEETING - December 2024

The Parks & Recreation Advisory Committee (PRAC) will review the final draft of the Commercial Recreation Use Analysis during their meeting on Tuesday, December 3, at 5:30 p.m. in the Assembly Chambers and via Zoom.

CBJ Parks & Recreation has partnered with Corvus Design to develop a strategic approach to managing commercial recreation on lands and trails overseen by Parks & Recreation. This comprehensive process has included months of evaluation, five neighborhood meetings, a public open house, and extensive community input.

The PRAC will review the final draft plan and provide a recommendation to the Department and Assembly regarding next steps.