Talkeetna SPUD one step closer

PALMER -- With little fanfare and just a few changes, the Mat-Su Borough Planning Commission passed the Talkeetna Special Land Use District Monday, and the document will be forwarded to the borough assembly for a final decision.

The SPUD, as it's called, was developed primarily by the community of Talkeetna, with the help of a 2000 grant from the National Parks Service that allowed the community to secure the services of Christopher Beck, a land use planning consultant from Anchorage.

Beck and his consulting team has worked with the community for more than a year, helping identify the core essentials of the community and how the plan could keep those essentials while meeting the demands of a growing area.

When the planning commission met in Talkeetna in January to discuss the SPUD, most community members spoke in favor of the document, but recommended a few changes.

The primary focus of the changes was restrictions on the height of towers in the area. Most residents agreed 100-foot towers in Talkeetna's downtown area could disrupt the community's panoramic views.

Beck told assembly members he and planning commissioner Lee Sharp had had several long discussions about the SPUD, poring over and making note of any discrepancies or inconsistencies.

"There were a lot of line-by-line concerns about some of the ways the language was expressed," Beck said.

The concerns were separated into two categories -- clarifications in wording and, as Sharp called them, more substantive changes -- and incorporated into a staff report handed out to commission members at the meeting. After a brief discussion about the grammatical changes, the commissioners agreed to adopt those changes as a whole.

The more substantive changes listed in the staff report to the commission incorporated some of the concerns that were raised by community members and from planning commissioners. Although several topics were raised, the two primary concerns seemed to be the need for an adjustment to the SPUD's proposed restrictions on tall towers and a change in wording pertaining to multi-family housing developments.

When the commission met in Talkeetna, community members were divided about whether tall towers were appropriate in the community and, if allowed, what their maximum height should be. After a considerable amount of discussion, borough planner Eileen Probasco said everyone agreed it was best to stick with codes that were already on the books.

"We kind of beat it up for a while and … realized, as it turned out, had we just read what was already in the code, it would have done what [the community] wanted it to do," Probasco said. "Every time a SPUD can just adopt what's already in the code, it makes it so much easier."

Talkeetna Community Council Chair Ruth Wood was at the commission meeting to hear the group's decision. After the meeting, Wood said she thought the change to the tower height restrictions reflected the wishes of the community.

"The towers can't be taller than structures in that area," Wood said. "It does allow some things like radio antennae on a pole … I think it accomplishes what the community wants."

She explained that, for some downtown businesses, radio communication with employees out in the field is a necessity -- and the borough's ordinance allows for that.

The proposed regulations for accepted multi-family dwellings was changed as well, expanding the wording that was proposed. Probasco said the original document allowed only a certain amount of multi-family units per lot, no matter the lot size.

In some cases, Probasco said, it could have prohibited having more than one multi-family complex on a 40-acre lot, even if there was ample room for another dwelling. The wording that was accepted by the commission changes the "lot" to "acre," and establishes a number of units permitted per lot in each district.

Probasco said the revisions adopted by the commission will be incorporated into the SPUD and forwarded to the assembly. The changes, she said, should be up for introduction to the assembly in March, and it's likely the assembly will hold a special public hearing in Talkeetna to discuss the matter. She's hoping the SPUD will be approved and in place in early spring, so the community can rely on it during the upcoming tourist and construction season, and as work progresses on the community's federally funded improvements to pedestrian and vehicle access and traffic in the downtown area.

Borough Clerk Sandra Dillon said Friday she has tentatively scheduled a special meeting for March 20, but the date has not yet been confirmed by the assembly. Pending assembly confirmation, the meeting is set for 6 p.m. at the Talkeetna Elementary School.

Wood said she's looking forward to seeing the plan implemented.

"I think it accomplishes what the community wants," Wood said. "It's definitely a compromised document, but I think that means that everyone has worked hard on it."