Art contest asks students to picture Wasilla’s future

What you need to know:

• Mat-Su Borough students can submit original artwork by Oct. 1 showing their vision for Wasilla’s future, with selected designs potentially appearing on the cover and throughout the city’s updated comprehensive plan.
• The comprehensive plan was last updated in 2011 and will guide long-term decisions on roads, utilities, parks, trails, housing and industrial development. The update reflects significant changes, including the area’s recent designation as urban.
• The city has gathered public input through an open house and steering committee meetings and is working with contractors on the update. A public review draft and comment period are planned before the plan goes to the City Council for possible adoption.
• Short on time but need the local news scoop? Get free weekly news in your inbox for Mat-Su, from Mat-Su.

Wasilla wants its youngest residents to show what they think the city might look like when it grows up — and the winner will be featured on the cover of a plan that will be used for decades.

The city has invited Mat-Su Borough students to help create a design for its updated comprehensive plan, which is expected to be finalized sometime next year.

“Whether they're a public school student or a private school student, they can submit artwork that can either be included on the cover of the design or the artwork can be incorporated into different parts of the document as well,” said City of Wasilla Planning Clerk Juliah Barnett.

Students have until Oct. 1 to submit artwork that “represents the City of Wasilla and its community now or in the future” via the comprehensive plan website at wasilla2045.com.

Barnett said involving young people is important because the comprehensive plan is meant to be a shared vision of the community by its members.

“The comprehensive plan is the city's long-term roadmap for growth and decision making, and it's created by this shared vision of local residents — of young people and of people who have lived in the city for a long time and seen its growth and change over time.”

According to the contest rules, submissions must be original artwork and not infringe on any copyrighted work. The rules suggest a few ideas, including “mountains, landscapes, lakes, moose, planes, dog mushing, snowmachines, Alaska Native heritage, and other examples of Wasilla’s identity.”

The city has already received a number of submissions, Barnett said. Wasilla High art teacher Misty Holler included the contest in her class during the previous school year.

“They thought about their own community in the city of Wasilla, and what they love about the city of Wasilla, and what's important to them,” Barnett said. “And then they turned that inspiration into a design and submitted it.”

Because the artwork will be used for more than just the cover, multiple pieces could end up in the final document.

“We can incorporate more than just one person's design, which is cool.”

Comp plan progressing

Barnett described the comprehensive plan as “the city's long-term roadmap for growth and decision making.” It guides everything from roads and utilities to parks, trails, housing and industrial development. It hasn’t been updated since 2011.

“The comprehensive plan is important to a city because without a plan, you don't have a direction in which you want the city to go.”

She said a lot has changed in the past 15 years, including the designation of the Wasilla-Knik-Fairview-North Lakes area as an urbanized area following the 2020 census. Under the Census Bureau’s 2020 criteria, an urban area must have at least 5,000 people or 2,000 housing units. Wasilla has about 10,500 residents within 12.4 square miles, according to the Census Bureau.

That change triggered different federal rules for things like transportation infrastructure and stormwater management planning.

“We are no longer rural,” Barnett said. “We are an urban designated city, and you have to have a plan that acts accordingly.”

Wasilla has been working on a comprehensive plan update since last year and has so far held an open house at the Wasilla Public Library and several steering committee meetings. The public input was important because it gives planners insight into what’s important to local residents. The city is partnering with DOWL Engineering on the update.

“It was just interesting to hear what different stakeholders in the community prioritize, what's important to them.”

Barnett said the city is hoping to hold another open house to introduce the public review draft. After that, there will be a three-week comment period before the plan goes before the Wasilla City Council for possible adoption.

For more information on the plan, visit the comprehensive plan website at wasilla2045.com.

Matt Tunseth is a freelance writer from Southcentral Alaska. Write to him at matthew.tunseth@gmail.com.