Borough delays action on subdivision codes

PALMER — The Mat-Su Borough is moving slowly toward a showdown over how it regulates the subdividing of land.

An ordinance set before the borough assembly Tuesday would have repealed the subdivision codes and replaced them with an older set. The newer set is Title 27, the older set is Title 16.

Supporters of 27 say it stops subdividers and developers from putting in sub-standard roads the borough has to later fix. It makes for subdivisions that cause fewer problems in the future.

Its detractors say Title 16 worked fine for years, that most of the problems are with subdivisions created back when there were few, if any, rules in the days before 16 was adopted. They also say 27 has halted development in the Mat-Su.

Tuesday, the assembly decided to put the matter off until Sept. 29. But first they got an earful from the public.

William Bruu, formerly of the borough’s planning commission, testified that he was one of the people who worked to write Title 27.

“We were also dealing with the problems that Title 16 created for this borough. Controversy after controversy after controversy,” Bruu said.

Because of that, he said, “I am dead set against this ordinance.”

Former borough assemblywoman Michelle Church agreed with Bruu.

“Title 16 did not work. The borough is growing,” she said. “We have a recession right now and that is what’s causing the slowdown in development.”

Assemblywoman Cindy Bettine asked Bruu the question that the assembly was set to decide — is 27 fixable or should it be scrapped?

Bruu said that, like most ordinances, 27 was designed to be tweaked and fixed. It’s not set in stone.

“No borough ordinance ever is,” he said.

John Strasenburgh, who sits on the road service area board that services Talkeetna, told a story of a road that needed fixing because it was built poorly in his area. Even to do the fix cheaply cost $26,000, which was 46 percent of the RSA’s capital budget.

On the other side were people like Berkley Tilton who, when asked how many subdivisions he’d put through, said someone once tried to tally how many he did and stopped counting at 85.

“Sixteen is what gave you the core area, which everyone is trying to preserve,” Tilton said.

He said he built parts of Lucille Street to put in subdivisions under Title 16; roads that are far from what someone would call “substandard.”

Also on the other side were homeowners like Sally Johnson, who wound up in a bureaucratic nightmare when she decided to cut a piece of land off from her 30-acre parcel.

“I was looking at $100,000 to divide off five acres that my niece was going to buy,” she said. She’s found a cheaper route, but it will still be multiple thousands of dollars. “It isn’t just the big subdivider, it’s the little guys like me who can’t do squat.”

The assembly eventually voted 4-3 to postpone the measure. One of those voting against it, Assemblyman Warren Keogh, said he worried that if they postponed the measure they wouldn’t get a chance to chose to fix 27 instead of repealing it.

“We necessarily hitch our wagon to 16,” he said.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.