Call it what you will, it's still the 'Z' word

Frontiersman editorial board

After many delays and much discussion, the Mat-Su Borough Assembly finally approved an expanded conditional-use permit process that they could at least agree to use as a starting point -- something to put in place and to be touched up as needed. Conditional use is here, and some people have welcomed it as the beginning of a process that will eventually protect some land owners from the abuses of others, and some land owners lament it as the first horseman of the zoning apocalypse.

One of the war cries of the anti-zoning contingent is the now-famous, "Planning yes. Zoning no."

It's likely true that zoning should follow a plan rather than the other way around, but one has to wonder what a plan would look like without some kind of zones. Houston -- the one in Texas -- is often held up as an example, since it has no formal zoning. If you visit Houston, though, you will not find any cozy cottages with white picket fences in the downtown area. You won't find a clean, little neighborhood snuggled up around an asphalt plant or a lumber mill. They don't have zoning in Houston, but there are places where people live, places where things are manufactured, and places where people in suits work.

One of the reasons for having zones where like things are done is that it's more efficient. If manufacturing takes place all over a city, those manufactured goods must get from the factory to a warehouse and eventually to another city. Having most of the factories in one or two or three places means that transportation -- like rail access -- can be centralized, too, not cutting a city to pieces. If it's a port city, it only makes sense to have the majority of big warehouses near the docks.

If land in your neighborhood becomes limited, the person who owns the last large lot can decide to put in a lumber mill if he is not regulated. You may think a school is a better idea for your neighborhood, since the nearest school is now 15 miles away in the warehouse district. Still, it's his land, and he should be able to do what he wants.

Of course, those are exaggerations, but the point is that planning -- which is a necessity in a growing city -- eventually amounts to something like zoning, whether you use the "Z " word, or not.

We can't stop the growth. Let's hope we grow into some place where living still makes sense.