Borough finally passes tower regs

After about a year of living just completely naked on the issue of tall towers, the Mat-Su Borough finally put some clothes on with an ordinance passed Tuesday.

This is a good thing. Inasmuch as we blasted assembly members who voted to repeal these rules in November 2011, we applaud their decision this week to end this lawless era for tall tower construction.

Those who have followed this saga likely already know the details. But to recap: Last year, faced with a raft of recommended changes to tall tower rules that had been years in the making, the Mat-Su Borough Assembly voted not only to reject those changes, but also to repeal all existing rules for towers.

In that vacuum, a whole lot of telecommunications companies started acting quickly. This period of regulatory buck-nakedness coincided with a build-out of 4G networks and the entrance of a big national company — Verizon — into the Alaska market.

It was going to be a boom time for tower-building, no matter which way the borough went on the regulations. But we have a hunch a lack of regulation regarding the building of those towers amplified the boom to sonic levels.

Since then, assemblyman Warren Keogh has tried with little success to get the borough to put its regulatory pants back on. Little success, that is, until Tuesday.

Borough Mayor Larry DeVilbiss described the decision as a surprise vote. It certainly was a surprise for us.

But it was a good surprise. We have long advocated for a return of the protections those tall towers rules afforded the people who live in the borough.

We were doubly encouraged Tuesday by a development on another matter before the assembly that has filled our inboxes with messages from neighbors concerned that the multifamily housing ordinance might get removed, like the towers ordinance had.

The fear grew out of an effort by assemblyman Darcie Salmon to repeal the multifamily ordinance, and that such expanded regulatory laxity in this area would allow for unbridled development of substandard housing.

Instead, two weeks ago, assemblyman Vern Halter presented the assembly with a compromise, which was sent for vetting by the Mat-Su Borough Planning Commission.

And Tuesday, when Salmon’s repeal came up, Salmon withdrew his ordinance in favor of Halter’s.

It is encouraging to see the assembly move away from the potentially dangerous path of deregulation to a more measured approach that appears to be favored by residents. This kind of responsive democracy is good for the process, and good for the well-being of the borough and its people.