Borough requiring land use permits

MAT-SU — Local residents planning to build a home, business or anything larger than a two-car garage now need to pull a land use permit.

On the first day of the program Thursday, Mat-Su Borough planner Laura Kruer said she saw a steady stream of applicants. By 1:30 p.m., about 20 permit applications had been filed. It wasn’t exactly a stampede, she said, but certainly a steady stream.

“By the time I get one in the computer I usually turn around and there’s someone else there,” Kruer said.

Kruer was glad she’d prepared by putting up signs directing folks to the planning office and a table for them to fill out forms. Prior to Thursday, it was not necessary to get a permit to do construction in unincorporated areas of the Borough.

“If I hadn’t prepared then they would have been lined up out the door this morning,” she said.

The permits apply to people building in the Borough but outside the cities of Wasilla, Houston and Palmer. Applications have to be submitted, along with a fee, to the Borough’s Department of Planning and Land Use where they are reviewed and a permit issued in 10 to 27 days.

Gary Foster, an area homebuilder and president of the Mat-Su Homebuilders Association, said overall he thinks new regulations are necessary in such a fast-growing community.

“As far as cost to the project and that much time involved people are a little upset about it,” Foster said. “But, I don’t think it’s a big deal.”

He said the costs and delays are both reasonable.

Building permit fees are $25 for cabins or uninhabitable buildings going up on residential property, $50 for a new single-family home or addition, $150 for commercial or industrial and $325 for five-unit multi-family homes with $25 for each additional unit.

Kruer said the longest anybody will have to wait for a permit is 27 days, but folks with their ducks in a row can likely get it done in 10.

Foster said the process will help as contractors, especially those without much experience, will be better informed on the rules for building in the Valley. He hopes there will be fewer situations like the one he’s dealing with now in Big Lake where a contractor went to build a home, only to find neighbors had built a shed on the wrong side of the property line.

Kruer agreed.

“There were a lot of people going out there and creating violations and they didn’t know there were rules about these things,” she said.

With a land use permit, which Kruer said is not a building permit, folks will come in, be informed of the rules and have a planner look over their proposal. The permit differs from a building permit mainly in what information folks are asked to submit.

“I could care less what kind of materials you use,” Kruer said. “My concern is about the building footprint [and location].”

Applicants are asked to fill out a form asking basic information about access to the property, water frontage, setbacks from roads and other questions. Small businesses and single-family homes can submit a hand-drawn site plan, but larger developments will need a certified plan.

While the Borough doesn’t have as many zoning rules as other areas, there are special use districts within the Borough that must be monitored, Kruer said. For example, in many places there are rules for how close buildings can be to roads and property lines.

She said permits will also help planners decide where to build or improve roads and where new schools and fire stations should go.

Asked whether permits will assist assessors in getting homes on the tax rolls, Kruer said that, in theory, assessors could look over where new buildings have gone up. With all that’s going on in the two departments, she said using the land use permits to coordinate tax collection is not something either department is looking at.

Besides, it’s illegal not to tell assessors when a property has been enhanced by building something on it, she said.

Anyone needing information on the program may call the Borough at 745-9833, visit the permitting Web site at matsugov.us./Planning/LUP.cfm or stop by the planning department at the Borough’s main administration building in Palmer.

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