Borough housing code has no regard for private citizens

To the editor:

I am writing in response to the letter about the four-plex in a “single family” neighborhood. I am not surprised at all by this development. In my mind, it comes down to the lack of understanding of the borough codes.

While I sympathize with the surrounding homeowners, I believe this is another case of “it won’t happen to me.” I, along with another fella, was able to get 1,100 signatures together to prevent reckless development in our neighborhoods. This resulted in a major re-write of Mat-Su Borough Ordinance 17.73. After the first few weeks of what turned out to be a nearly year-long fight, the only ones who were still working to get the laws changed were the two of us. People lost interest, and a lot of that was due to the borough assembly wasting time and effort to find ways to please those who “bought and paid” (read this as the builders and developers) them. This was done with little or no regard for the private citizen.

Try as we might to get the wording changed, a couple of the assemblymen, one of whom is no longer on the assembly, insisted on using the word “unit” instead of “structure,” and also using some stupid formula that would allow for “X” number of people per a certain size lot, along with other equally ridiculous wording with the current wording of “unit,” a half acre lot on our street now has three separate houses on it.

While the changes in the ordinance did help with the requirements for building, it totally disregarded the rights of a lot of people in the Valley. I believe the one major thing that was overlooked was the zoning. Zoning is instrumental in determining what kind of development can be done in a given area. My personal assessment of the borough ordinances may not be totally accurate, but I have never been known to be politically correct. A problem with honesty, I guess.

Again, while I sympathize with the plight of these folks, all I can say is “where were you when this was happening to us with the Felony Flats issue?” Maybe now the rest of the borough will wake up and realize how “private” their little corner of the Valley really is.

Darwin Fischer

Big Lake