The years of having it both ways are long gone

Frontiersman editorial board

The longtime residents at Odsather Circle near Wasilla Lake are raising concerns about a new development being considered in their neighborhood. Different groups are banding together to protest aspects of virtually every proposed route for the new electric transmission line for Valley Hospital. Members of a varied coalition of Valley residents linked arms to protest expanded coal-bed methane development in the Mat-Su. Property owners near Palmer High School canvassed neighborhoods and spoke at city council meetings to oppose certain kinds of commercial development near their homes.

New box stores are sprouting up all over the Valley, and some of them will bring controversial infrastructure price tags for traffic lights, water improvements and more. That's got some people up in arms, too.

What is all this about?

There is still buildable land in the Mat-Su, but the space between tracts and lots is shrinking, and that means individual priorities and differing visions are coming into conflict.

In 2002, Frontiersman asked the Snapshot question, "What would make Palmer a better place to live?" One answer was, "A Costco would be great, but over in Wasilla." That's the problem, right? We all want convenience and services, but most of us aren't willing to make the sacrifices required. It's the greatest challenge of rapid growth -- the conflict between the quality of what we have and the convenience of what we want.

The painful reality many will have to accept is that the growth is here, and its momentum is irresistible. The towns many residents remember are long gone, and they're not coming back. It can be heard in the ironic conversations in the aisles of box stores, as people with full carts complain about the traffic or the new homes in their neighborhood. It can be seen in the full parking lots outside those stores, on anti-CBM bumper stickers.

It's the harvest of a history of resistance to zoning and serious planning. It's the result of people turning a blind eye to development as long as it's not in their own back yard. Now nearly every new development is in someone's back yard, and the precedent that favors developers over existing property owners has been set.

It's time for people in the Mat-Su to assume all new development is in their own back yard, and respond accordingly. Opposing development is fruitless, but insisting upon intelligent development is imperative.