Juneau city center will no longer have the feeling of a retreat in the wilderness and much of the quality that residents and visitors seek will be lost. As this part of Douglas island develops the two most important attributes to maintain are significant undeveloped sections of shoreline and maximum tree cover. If these two landscape elements are maintained development can be increased with a minimum of impact on the natural visual quality of this part of Juneau. An important element this character is the scale and complexity of the built form. It is possible for downtown to grow and change and still maintain much of it's historical feeling if the existing scale and texture of the context is respected and key historic buildings are maintained.
New development needs to be at a scale that is consistent with the historic building stock.
This is not to say that uses requiring large square footage can not be accommodated but rather that they need to be accommodated by a complex of buildings with each element of the complex fitting into the existing urban fabric and reflecting the pattern of it's historic context. As the waterfront develops it is important that steps be taken to assure both forms of public access. One of the best ways to accommodate both types of access is to maintain visual and physical corridors to the water at the end of streets. This will make the access a natural extension of the existing pedestrian circulation system and allow visual access to the water and waterfront activity to penetrate to the maximum extent into the urban area. Industrial uses will continue to be replaced by commercial and tourist-oriented facilities.