Far North Bicentennial Park Master Plans

To create this park, the Anchorage Assembly adopted in 1974 the Far North Bicentennial Park Master Development Plan as the "Official Plan for these Parklands". When the land was transferred from the Federal Government to the State of Alaska and then from the State to the Borough of Anchorage, the "Generalized Land Use Plan" in the 1974 Master Plan was made a requirement of the transfer. The 1985 Updated Master Plan confirms that "the subsections of this updated plan contain recommendations in concert with the intent of the 1974 Master Development Plan.

The objectives of the Park carried through all of these documents are:

1. To maintain the Far North Bicentennial Park in perpetuity as a public park for the benefit of the citizens of Alaska.
2. To preserve the streambeds, watershed areas, and wildlife habitat of the area in as pristine a condition as possible allowing for compatible use of the area for nature appreciation by the public.
3. To provide for recreational use by the citizens in areas where such use will be consistent with the primary objectives of nature conservation.
4. To provide areas where more intensive public uses can be developed on a manner consistent with nature and harmonious with neighboring uses.
5. To provide regulations and controls which will accomplish the aforementioned objectives and insure the continuous maintenance of these lands in a nearly natural state for the benefit of future generations.

Updated Far North Bicentennial Park Master Plan, by the Physical Planning Division, Community Planning and Department, Municipality of Anchorage, March 1985.

You need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view these files. There is an icon at the bottom of the page that leads to Adobe's site where you can download the reader for free. (These files are not small. If you don't have highspeed internet access, you'll wish you did!)

When the page loads, if it looks like you got a blank page, scroll down a bit. The first page is the chapter's title page and the title is in the middle of the page.

Section 1- Table of Contents, Forward, Acknowledgements and Background Information
Section 2- Transportation
Section 3- Generalized Land Use
Section 4- Trail System
Section 5- Implementation and Recommendations
Section 6- Appendix A: Public Survey Results & Appendix B: Interest Group Survey Results
Section 7- Appendix C - Agency Comments

The Plan was amended in 2002 to allow the Simonian Little League Complex to be built:
AO 2002-165

Transfer Documents
Far North Bicentennial Park is part of the land that was called the Campbell Tract. It was military land that was transferred to the Bureau of Land Management and then in 1976 to the State of Alaska and then to Anchorage. There were stipulations in that transfer that the land be used as specified in the "Generalized Use Plan of 1974."

Click here for a .pdf of the transfer documents to the State of Alaska. It is a big file.

Click here for a .pdf of the transfer documents from the State to Anchorage. It is a big file.

Far North Bicentennial Park Master Development Plan 1974: A Proposal for the American Revolution Bicentennial Celebration

Cover, Contents and Introduction
Part I : Background
Part II: Design Process
___ Pages 11-
___ Pages - 45
Part III: Recommendations
Part IV: Far North Bicentennial Park Plan

These are all .pdf files.

Decorative pictures in this document did not copy well and so were erased. The maps and diagrams are clear. Map 17 on page 44 is in color and is reproduced below. Map 20 on page 65 includes a clear plastic overlay of potential trails. The map with the overlay is also reproduced below. Click on these maps to get a larger version.

Upper Campbell Creek Area Land Use Plan
by the Greater Anchorage Bourough Planning Commission March 1971.

This plan we written when the bourough first got on inkling that the army would give them this land. For people who like Bicentennial Park as a natural area, this plan is their worse nightmare. It must have been looked on that way back then, too since just a couple years later the plan that commits this park to remain a natural area gave us the Park we have today.

This plan is a horror story. Lots of development for this area! Remembering this was written in the early 70's, take a look at page 7's comment " ... land shortage that will reach critical proportions within 10 years." We find ourselves in the next century still finding land to build on! And don't miss this assumption on page 25: "Day to day transportation ... served exclusively by the automobile." They weren't far off on that one! There was also an assumption that a bridge over Cook Inlet was just a few years away. Whoops ...!

The Plan had several color maps that are shown here. Click on these for a larger version.

Contents, Introduction and Chaper 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3 and 4
Chapter 5 and Conclusion

Get a load of this one. Two freeways and a couple more roads cutting the Park up. A commercial center in the middle. A few thin strands of green belt.

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Copyright Friends of Far North Bicentennial Park 2005
Paid for by Friends of Bicentennial Park, 11701 Hillside Drive, Anchorage, AK 99516; Tom Meacham, chair
Last revised: December 18, 2007.