Protecting big lots and open spaces

June 24, 2005

DAWN DE BUSK/Frontiersman reporter

MEADOW LAKES - Imagine all your neighbors living on 1.5- to 2.5-acre lots, behind a buffer of trees and greenery that surrounds their homes. Envision open spaces, trails systems and parks interspersed in these residential areas.

Already, many residents - living in this community that boasts a population of 5,300 and is located north of Wasilla city limits - have considered what kind of neighborhood they want to cultivate.

During its regular June meeting, the Meadow Lakes Community Council backed an 80-plus-page comprehensive plan for the community. The plan will face the planning commission in July, then go to the Mat-Su Borough Assembly.

"Basically, it's so Meadow Lakes won't become another Wasilla or Anchorage. We want to create more open space. We want less pull on natural resources," said Donnita Burks, who had held a council seat since 1991, except this year.

Burks said maintaining the rural setting became a driving force, which was expressed by local residents repeatedly in designing the comprehensive plan.

The land-use plan would forbid any new subdivisions to have smaller than 1.5-acre lots.

However, the plan provides exceptions.

Essentially, smaller lots might thrive closer to main roadways where water hookups are more accessible, closer to the city center; larger lots would be found where water and soil quality are poor, especially where wetland parcels exist.

Would the larger lots create a neighborhood accessible only to those who have more money? Burks said she doesn't buy that idea. After five years with Meadow Lakes Real Estate, Burks said 1-acre lots are more expensive per square foot than larger lots.

"For example, it's $20,000 for a 1-acre lot; but the 5-acre lot won't go for $100,000," she said. "This plan won't price people out of Meadow Lakes."

Not everyone favored the land-management plan. Ethan Williams, owner of Williams Investments, said although many aspects of the plan were fine, the lot-size minimum wasn't suitable for the current real estate market.

"We're in an economic phase where lot prices have risen dramatically. The bigger lot prices have risen just as quickly as smaller lots. In a year or two, my kids or grandkids won't be able to buy anything. As we run out of land, it'll make it so nobody will be able to develop or afford land."

Williams said in the past, Meadow Lakes' lots were affordable; and this comprehensive plan will force people to seek parcels in Willow, Cantwell and further north. He also thought it was unfair that a portion of the residents weren't allowed to vote because they weren't community council members.

The council was concerned about boroughwide zoning not taking into consideration the desires of the Meadow Lakes community, according to Burks. In a forward-thinking step about two years ago, the council selected a planning team, and the borough hired Agnew Beck Consulting to assist with the project.

Chris Beck, project manager with Agnew Beck Consulting, acquired listings of private property in Meadow Lakes from the borough assessor's office to help determine the types of property that make up the community.

Forty percent of the existing lots are one-acre or smaller. Fewer than one-third of the subdivided lots are between 1 and 2 acres. Two- to 5-acre lots comprise 14 percent of the parcels in the Meadow Lakes area.

As part of the planning project, questionnaires were sent to all residents, allowing the input of not only the more politically minded folks on the city council but everyone living in the area immediately north of Wasilla.

In the mid-1980s, when the bottom fell out of the market and the price of crude oil plummeted, Meadow Lakes was the cut-off line where Wasilla's development stopped, according to real estate agent Darcie Salmon. Development had spread like wildfire to the outskirts of Wasilla, and then, those homes were left behind as people exited from the state, he said.

To preview the comprehensive plan and maps, go to www.agnewbeck.com and then click on current projects.

Dawn De Busk may be reached at 352-2252, or dawn.debusk@frontiersman.com.