Houston close to planning its own future

HOUSTON — The city with the largest boundaries of any in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough is one step closer to having jurisdiction over what goes on within its borders.

Last week the borough’s planning commission voted to approve Houston’s request for planning and land use regulatory authority to be transferred from the borough to the city. If the request is granted by the borough assembly, the Houston City Council will have final say on variances, conditional land-use permits and zoning changes.

Under the current system, requests for such are sent to the borough’s planning department, said the borough’s chief planning officer Eileen Probasco. Her staff reviews the requests and makes their recommendation against borough code. With this recommendation, the city council decides on variances and conditional-use permits, but zoning changes must go before the borough assembly.

The change would put applications through the city’s newly formed planning commission instead of the borough’s planning department, and the city council could pass zoning changes without going through the borough assembly.

“We’re a city,” Houston Mayor Roger Purcell said. “The citizens of Houston should be able to determine their own future.”

Purcell said the change would not require the city to hire more people to process the requests. The city already reviews applications before they go to the borough’s planning department, he said. The only change is applications would go through the city’s planning commission and be subject to the final say of the city council.

“It will give the ability to the local citizen to make the decision on the way the city, the people want it to go instead of leaving it up to the borough,” Purcell said. “Isn’t that why we are a city?”

The borough assembly will take up the matter at a public hearing in November. The authority to change the coastal management and flood prevention plans, as well as platting authority, is specifically excluded from the proposed change.

While the change would give more autonomy to the city, Probasco said the borough will likely play a role in Houston’s planning process even if the change passes the assembly. The cities of Wasilla and Palmer, both of which have powers similar to what Houston is trying to secure, often send land-use applications to the borough for input.

“I expect (Houston) would send it to us for our comments too,” Probasco said.

And, besides, she said, the borough reserves the right to revoke the power through assembly vote.

Contact Todd L. Disher at todd.disher@frontiersman.com or 352-2252.