It's wise to plan ahead for Valley's growth

Simply Sleight, by Kari Sleight

It's an exciting time to live and do business in the Mat-Su Borough.

This was the message I took away from the seventh-annual Valley Economic Development Conference hosted by the Mat-Su Resource Conservation and Development Council.

Speakers representing state, borough and city governments, private industry, tourism and elected officials addressed the group gathered at the Best Western Lake Lucille Inn last Thursday.

Norm Stephens, CEO of Valley Hospital Association, updated attendees on the progress of the new hospital facility, including that the building project is currently tracking to be completed nearly five months ahead of schedule.

Stephens also touched on the economic impact the new hospital will have on the Valley as new health-care providers are brought to the Valley, now and within the upcoming year.

Bob Doyle, chief school administrator for the Mat-Su Borough School District, briefly touched on the strain the heavy influx of new residents has placed on the district. Averaging 500 new students a year -- the equivalent of one new elementary school -- school administrators are challenged to come up with creative solutions to the overpopulation in our schools until new schools can be constructed.

The Mat-Su Borough School District has surpassed Fairbanks in size, and is now the second-largest district in the state, second only to Anchorage.

Darcie Salmon, Mat-Su Resource Conservation and Development Council president and a public member of the Knik Arm Bridge and Toll Authority, not only reported on the progress of the Knik Arm project, but suggested that now is the time we start planning for the additional growth impact the completion of the project is projected to bring to the Point MacKenzie, Burma Road, Big Lake and Houston areas.

The Knik Arm Bridge could be a reality as early as 2010, according to Salmon.

State Sens. Lyda Green and Charlie Huggins, along with state Reps. Carl Gatto, Bill Stoltze and Mark Neuman, spoke about their roles and challenges as elected officials in the economic process.

Conference topics ranged from tourism to transportation and health care to housing, along with the recent explosion in commercial development. All points drove home the need for long-term planning and a more proactive, rather than reactive, approach to development.

The Mat-Su is quickly becoming one of the strongest economic engines in the state. Some forecasters are predicting that 143,000 people will be added to the Anchorage and Mat-Su populations by the year 2020, and if recent trends hold, two-thirds of the new population will be residing in the Mat-Su Borough.

Planning for that growth now is the right thing to do, otherwise we find ourselves at high risk of a transportation quagmire and haphazard communities.

Neighbors will increasingly find themselves at odds with each other over land-use and development issues. Our roads will face the same fate as the Palmer-Wasilla Highway, as Rep. Gatto reported, with no right of way set aside for future expansion.

We've been behind the curve for many years in dealing with the extreme growth in the Valley. It's been our practice to try and solve the problems growth creates as they occur, a practice that, in the end, creates more problems than it solves.

It's past time for this community to take a proactive approach to the growth and social and economic issues normally associated with rampant growth.

Get involved with your community council, attend borough and city hearings and stay current on what's happening in your neighborhood and your community. Local government needs your input to help shape the future of our community.

Kari Sleight is the publisher of the Frontiersman.