Borough begins sorting land-use standard

PALMER — In an attempt to iron out often contentious wrinkles, the Matanuska-Susitna Borough is reviewing its section of code regulating zoning throughout the Valley.

It’s an all-too-common mistake to think the borough has no zoning laws, said planner Lauren Kruer speaking in front of the Greater Palmer Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday. While there may not be color-coded sections of land designated for different uses, the borough creates zoning through land-use regulations.

According to state law, land-use regulations must enact the goals set fourth in the borough’s comprehensive-use plan. These regulations take the form of conditional-use permits, planned unit developments and special-use districts, Kruer said.

The comp plan was updated in 2005 to include 83 goals, she said. However, Title 17 — the section governing zoning and land-use permits — is more than 40 years old.

“There were only 6,000 people living here when it was created. The numbers predict we will have more than 89,000 by the (2010) census,” Kruer said.

During this time of unfettered growth, the borough has updated the zoning code in a piecemeal process.

“When things show up, you have to react. You don’t get the opportunity to look at the whole picture,” she said.

Title 17 now includes more than 650 amendments. This leads to loopholes and inconsistencies and a code that has no system, Kruer said.

“Citizens have consistently told us we have to manage this growth,” she said. “There’s a lot more of us around.”

To update the zoning process, the borough’s planning department is taking a two-phase approach. Phase 1 is to simply update the existing code, making it more streamlined and consistent. Phase 2 is where the code is actually changed to fit the conditions of today.

Phase 1 has been under way for some time, Kruer said. The updated Title 17 has been posted on planning’s website since the spring, and the planning commission will take it up at its first meeting in December.

“Once we have a good place to start from, from there we will identify what we need,” Kruer said.

Phase 2 will be a much longer process, hopefully beginning in the spring, she said. The process will include all the interested parties and many public hearings. Different sections of the code will be updated at different times, Kruer said, and the whole process will take a couple of years.

But throughout, the planning department understands the borough needs a flexible code to be compatible with the many uses that go on around the Valley.

“Alaska is not California. And we are not Anchorage,” Kruer said.

Contact Todd L. Disher at todd.disher@frontiersman.com or 352-2252.