Overview
A Task Force has been commissioned by Mayor Dave Cobb to address a coordinated, all-season community beautification effort throughout the City of Valdez. The Task Force has been working for over a year now to update the last Beautification Plan that was published back in the late 90’s. One accomplishment this Task Force has been able to get done so far this summer was the design and installation of a new Welcome Sign out at the city limits near mile 18 of the Richardson Highway. The Task Force is inviting the citizens of Valdez to get involved with this ongoing planning.

The Urban Design Planning and Beautification Project will provide the community with a plan that can be implemented over time to make Valdez an even better place to live, more inviting for tourism and attract new investment and job creation. “Our current City strategic planning work has identified a number of needs and desires relative to the appearance of our community”, said Valdez Mayor Dave Cobb. “We hope to hear more ideas and comments from the public for this new initiative”, he said.

Feel free to browse the information on this page. Additional information will be posted as the project progresses.

The Task force will be meeting regularly. Please Contact City Hall  at 835-4313 for meeting dates and times.  

Got ideas or comments? Drop us an email.

Conceptual Ideas
The documents listed below were developed during public involvement workshops held May 1-3, 2012. This included a visual preference exercise and questionnaires, as well as direct discussions with Task Force members and project consultants.

The Slide Program below was shown during the workshop explaining the project and presenting concepts. 

• Slide Show-revised 5/4/12

Please view the link below to see the synopis of surveys taken during the public involvment workshops.

• Survey Results-revised 6/25/12

The Conceptual Drawings below were based on information gathered during the public involvement workshops.  The drawings are also included in the full slide show.

• Valdez Gateway Options-revised 5/4/12
• Town Square Options-revised 5/4/12
• Egan Street Options-revised 5/4/12
• City Street Corner Options-revised 5/4/12
• Richardson Highway Options-revised 5/4/12
• Overall Town Plan-Revised 5/15/12
• June Update-Revised 6/25/2012
• September Update-Revised 9/14/12

All concepts presented anywhere in this website are preliminary in nature and require further vetting by the public and the City Council. In an effort to solicit this input, the City Council was briefed on initial concepts at their July 2, 2012 regular meeting. Outreach to the public then took place during the annual Valdez Gold Rush Days event; where the Task Force manned a booth at the open air market for two days (August 4-5). At this booth the concepts were explained and comments collected. The public was again engaged in a Town Hall style public meeting on August 30, 2012. Surveys and comments were collected at both the Gold Rush Days event and the Town Hall meeting.

Link to GR survey
Link to GR comments 

Link to TH survey 
Link to TH comments

Link to FAQ

The Task Force will continue to meet throughout the fall to discuss comments received and to incorporate them into an overall strategy that can be briefed to the City Council in November, 2012. Participation and comments are strongly encouraged throughout this entire process.