Assembly passes CUP

MAT-SU -- After numerous revisions and two rounds of public testimony at the Mat-Su Borough Assembly level, the assembly agreed Tuesday through a split vote to adopt a more strict conditional use permitting process.

The process requires that expanding or new businesses must apply for a land use permit to determine whether a conditional-use permit will be required. Borough officials estimated about 10 businesses would qualify for conditional-use permits each year.

Those businesses would, according to the ordinance: Generate noise above a certain decibel range beyond their property; generate traffic of more than 100 vehicles at peak hours or 750 vehicles per day; process, manufacture or store hazardous materials over established thresholds; or generate run-off that would violate state water quality standards. The new regulations will go into effect on Jan. 1.

Audience members had varying opinions on the revised ordinance. Lloyd Melone, with Quality Asphalt and Paving, as well as others in the gravel industry, took issue with the noise levels in the ordinance.

"We feel the noise levels are unreasonable," Melone said. He advocated a zoning ordinance that would incorporate an interim mining district.

Some wanted more protection than the ordinance would provide. Several residents were looking for an ordinance that would preserve the property values of their homes.

Most brought up similar arguments to those heard in previous public hearings -- the ordinance was too restrictive, not restrictive enough, too costly, a needed cost, a theft of power, the first step in the right direction, the downfall of commercial development in the Valley, an economic boost for businesses ready to build but unsure of the business climate and other assertions. One thing most agreed on was that the document was not perfect. And that's where the assembly's decision hinged.

Assembly member Jody Simpson said she labored throughout the day over which way she should vote, but finally reached a conclusion at the meeting.

"We've defined the who in here, we've defined the what," Simpson said, "but we've never defined the why … I think this is just a little too vague."

She echoed the sentiments of assembly member Kelly Lankford Ladere.

"There are areas of language in this substitute … which are vague," Ladere said, "which do grant an undefined discretion to the planning commission, to staff members … which I don't think we should grant."

Bruce Bush agreed with Ladere and Simpson, adding that he believed the ordinance needed more work and was too divisive.

"We're going to have to have some kind of land use regulations in this borough, it's obvious," Bush said. "But we need everybody to agree on this."

Assembly member Jim Colver said the ordinance was likely as close to full agreement the assembly would see on land use regulations.

"When you look at this document, compared to everything we have looked at, this represents a bridge we've built between two sides of the issue," Colver said. "Nobody gets everything they want in legislation -- it's sausage-making."

Assembly member Dan Kelly advocated passing the document and, if necessary, making changes in the future.

"Let's approve it and ask the public, when they see parts of it they don't like and want changed, to contact their assemblyman," Kelly said.

Assembly member Sara Jansen voiced her support for what she called a "stop-gap measure between nothing and something," and called for borough staff to bring forward an ordinance creating an interim mining district for gravel pit operators. She also suggested a review of the borough's platting codes, with the intent of providing more protection for property owners.

"Really, our number-one industry in the Valley is housing," Jansen said.

But assembly member Talis Colberg's comments perhaps best summed up the assembly's struggle with finding appropriate land use regulations.

"We have a document where we initiated a procedure to begin it and don't really know what it's going to look like," Colberg said. He said the claim by testifiers that the borough should model itself after the zoning-free city of Houston, Tex., was faulty. Houston, he said, has a long list of ordinances, including amounts of off-street parking and tree-planting requirements, that simply accomplish zoning in other ways. He added that the plan was not an attempt to sneak zoning into the borough by starting in the core area.

"It is an urban area in the middle of the borough," Colberg said of the core area. "It's not proper to say the rules that apply to New York City should apply to Wyoming."

He also set aside the argument that people had moved to the borough to escape government, stating that it may have been a good idea, if only there weren't 60,000 other people with the same plan. In the end, Colberg agreed with the other assembly members in support of the plan that this was not the end of land use regulation in the borough.

"This ordinance is, in my mind, a compromise and a stop-gap we can use," Colberg said. "This addresses a few uses who may have a high impact. There's got to be a starting point."