Committees seek compromise to find solutions

MAT-SU -- Watershed quality, more access points in subdivisions and alternatives to strip-type development were three concerns borough residents felt were important in the Mat-Su Borough's Core Area Comprehensive Plan process, but how to address those problems is another matter entirely.

More than 50 borough residents took part in two meetings held at Colony High School May 17 and 19, the second round of workshops held to discuss the borough's Core Area Comprehensive Plan update. Planners from Peter J. Smith and Company compiled a list of topics identified as important through the round of public hearings held last month. In addition to watershed quality, the need for additional exits in subdivisions and development standards, borough residents were concerned in light pollution, unsightly signs, traffic congestion along the Palmer-Wasilla Highway, the need for north-south traffic connectors, incompatible land uses, protecting farmland and rural areas, property maintenance requirements, underutilized land owned by the university, a need for additional parks and other things as important concerns in the core area. The core area is roughly the area that extends between the cities of Palmer and Wasilla.

Those who attended were asked to go through a workbook and identify potential solutions or ways to deal with important issues. The potential solutions ranged from doing nothing to enacting regulations or putting in place voluntary compliance procedures.

Borough planner Beth McKibben said there was considerable discussion about several of the items, and several people had differing viewpoints about what solutions should be considered.

Discussion continued at the Core Area Comprehensive Plan Advisory Board meetings. Planners from Peter J. Smith and Company met with two advisory groups -- one made up of community council representatives and the second made up of representatives from a variety of community interests.

The advisory committee meetings had a slightly different tone than the public workshops. There, representatives were presented with information the consulting company had collected about the area, specifically relating to the area economy, such as how many households are in the core area, where people work and how the transportation infrastructure is made up.

The advisory groups have a different role in the plan update than the borough community at large. They're tasked with helping finalize the document -- a potentially difficult task for two boards that were chosen for their differing viewpoints. Michelle Church, executive director of Friends of Mat-Su, said she's been pleased about the discussions so far in the group she serves on.

"There are a lot of areas everybody agrees with," Church said. The importance of resolving traffic issues, for example, has been a common bond.

Although the information presented to the advisory committees last week may have been new to some, Eddie Grasser, who is on the community-oriented advisory board representing Mat-Su Property Owners' Association, said for people who pay attention, the information isn't news. Grasser said he's looking forward to getting down to business and putting together the plan -- especially since he was assured the end product would be a document of compromise, not one passed by majority rule.

"I wanted to know what the ground rules are," Grasser said. "It's important for me to know we weren't just going to rubber-stamp something."

So he asked a consultant during the April round of meetings and was told the end product would, indeed, be consensus. He said he hopes the rest of his board understands the implications of being tasked with reaching a consensus.

"They understand that, in order to resolve some of these issues, it's going to have to be a community effort, and true compromises have to be made," Grasser said. "This particular group realizes that whatever they want isn't going to be the end product. It will be the product of several viewpoints within the community. Personally, I think that's how it should be."