Talkeetna Community and Tourism Plan

Project Date: 2002-2003
Project Manager: Chris Beck
Client: Talkeetna Community Council
Location: Talkeetna

Tourism has grown rapidly in Talkeetna over the past 10 years, from 30-40,000 visitors in the early 90's to well over 100,000 in the past year, largely due to the construction of two new hotels in the area and a new influx of major tour companies. Additionally, Talkeetna's residential growth rate of 3.3% is double that of the rest of the state. Yet even as this growth has resulted in huge economic benefits to residents and business owners, the community is starting to feel crowded and chaotic, especially in the summer months. Talkeetna's Community Council decided in 2001 that in order to preserve Talkeetna's character the town needed new regulations on development, a first for the unincorporated community.

Chris Beck's work on the project yielded impressive results:

• A three-night public opinion workshop with the Talkeetna community, helping to articulate the community's vision of its future.
• A comprehensive Community and Tourism Plan that emphasizes the key aspects of circulation, community growth and governance, recommending everything from the construction of new parking and trails to specific guidelines for new buildings.
• An Implementation Plan giving recommendations for precise next steps for the Talkeetna community. The implement, out of which came beginnings the Riverfront Park Plan.
• The creation of "Special Use Land Districts" (SPUD's) allowed for the physical implementation of this plan - a way for an unincorporated community to pass enforceable rules on development. Creating SPUD's gave Talkeetna the first planning ordinance in its history.
• A set of footpaths and trails around the town, built by the Department of Transportation and Matanuska-Susitna Borough, the first physical result of the new Talkeetna plan.