Change to Planning Commission agenda sought

WASILLA — A Wasilla city official is calling for a change in the agenda for tonight’s Planning Commission meeting that would give the public a chance to weigh in on the vacation of a road in the Creekside Town Square development.

City Planner Jim Holycross said Monday he will urge the chairman of the city’s Planning Commission, Stan Tucker, to move a public comment period up on Tuesday’s agenda so residents can give their opinion on the vacation of South Maney Drive in the Creekside Town Square Development.

Tucker, however, said he is not in favor of the change, and will seek to keep the agenda as is.

“We will not have a de facto public hearing by changing the order of our agenda,” Tucker said.

He added that after conferring with Wasilla’s city attorney, and learning the Mat-Su Borough’s Platting Board typically holds public hearings, he will “go along with what city code and borough code call for.”

Wasilla’s Planning Commission will make a recommendation tonight on whether or not to get rid of part of a road called South Maney Drive. The city council recently asked the planning commission to make a recommendation on the issue.

Meritage Development LLC, the company developing Creekside, wants to use the existing road near Sportsman’s Warehouse and vacate South Maney Drive to reconfigure its lot for developments, Holycross said.

Wasilla Public Works Director Archie Giddings said what’s being vacated is an old right-of-way where a gravel subdivision road used to be. It’s being replaced by the paved road next to Sportsman’s Warehouse that will be the new Maney Drive.

Representatives from Meritage have said they are not commenting on the development.

The public will be allowed to speak during an audience participation time near the end of the Planning Commission’s meeting. Audience participation, however, is after the commission makes its recommendation.

Holycross said Tuesday he will still ask for the agenda change, but ultimately it is up to Tucker, he said.

“That’s his choice,” Holycross said.

Contact Michael Rovito at michael.rovito@frontiersman.com or 352-2252.