Ordinance battle a draw, war continues

PALMER — The fight isn’t quite settled, but the first fray surrounding the Mat-Su Borough’s multi-family housing regulations ended Tuesday with a compromise.

Mat-Su Borough Mayor Larry DeVilbiss said in his regular Mayors Minute podcast posted Wednesday that the issue brought considerable numbers of people to the borough’s Tuesday night meeting.

“I think that the concerns about a total repeal on that have been set aside and we’re going to make some amendments that improve that legislation rather than taking it away altogether,” the mayor said.

Changes or the possible elimination of the multi-family housing ordinance had been a source of concern for residents in Big Lake and Willow. Neighbors of property Mike Stephens owns worried that when Stephens, who owns the Mile 49 Cabins, started clearing land it was to be a new location for those cabins; famous for bad behavior and a lack of amenities like running water and indoor plumbing.

When those residents started looking into what the borough could do to keep that from happening, they quickly ran into assemblyman Darcie Salmon’s proposal to do away with all borough ordinances governing multi-family buildings like apartment complexes or Stephens’ cabins.

Salmon has said it was a case of bad timing. He said his moved was aimed at helping spark construction of affordable housing in the borough, not clones of the swath of dry cabins — known colloquially as “Felony Flats.”

DeVilbiss summarized that debate in his podcast.

“There was some concern about because there’s an ordinance coming through the works that would repeal the multiple residence legislation on the borough books. It could enable that Felony Flats business model to be repeated around the borough,” DeVilbiss said.

The motion on the table, though, wasn’t to repeal the legislation, it was to refer a raft of changes to the planning commission for review.

Assemblyman Vern Halter sponsored those changes. And eventually, he and Salmon agreed to let the legislation move forward to the commission.

Halter’s legislation, according to the summary attached to it, was “to clarify that primitive accommodations lacking plumbing, sewage facilities, electricity service and other permanent improvements are governed by (the multi-family codes), if the number of units exceeds the density thresholds.”

That density threshold is five dwells per 40,000 square feet of property. The ordinance doesn’t single out Stephens or his cabins. It’s worth noting, though, that Felony Flats has that specified density, but the cabins lack all of those amenities.

The legislation will sit with the planning commission for up to three months, during which time the commission can recommend expanding the ordinance’s focus or contracting it.

After that, it returns to the assembly, which can accept or reject the commission’s changes and propose changes of its own.

Contact reporter Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.