Wasilla needs to monitor construction

To the editor:

Monday at 9 a.m., there will be a hearing before Hearing Officer Eric Jensen at City Hall in Wasilla. I have appealed the Planning Commission’s decision to recommend that the city allow high-density projects in areas zoned for low-density. I am a land developer and favor responsible development, therefore I have recommended minimum standards such as paving, buffering and traffic control that must be included as a part of high-density planning. The Planning Commission has rejected all calls for any definitive development standards, choosing instead to rely on the subjective decisions of city staff to accept or reject a developer’s plans.

The Planning Commission’s action amounts to a proposed rezone of every district in the city. Your quiet little neighborhood will soon be the site of high-density cluster subdivisions, condos and apartment complexes — without enforceable, definable development standards.

The proposed code changes were written by a committee of developers, for developers. It is intended to make it easier — not better — to create high-density projects. The committee rejected calls by its sole resident member to include minimum standards for buffering, drainage and dust control.

Remember Shadowwood? Same basic planning commission, same Public Works director, same idea. One of Anchorage’s “site-condo kings” tried to put a high-density project in an RR-Zoned neighborhood on Lucille Street. No drainage plan, no traffic plan, no buffering, no streetlights.

Didn’t even have to pave. Just about had the roads built before the neighbors woke up and stopped him. Fortunately the Mat-Su Borough stepped in because former Mayor Keller ordered her staff to let the project go ahead and then she proposed code and zoning changes to allow it after the fact.

Who’s watching out for you, now? Not the borough. They have no authority anymore on these planning issues. Their code is very restrictive and protective and won’t allow these types of projects outside of the city without definable standards. So the slumbuilders will come to Wasilla. Short-term gain for them and long-term costs for Wasilla.

Please ask your mayor, his staff, and the City Council not to accept these proposed zoning changes without first considering minimum standards of development for high-density, clustered developments.

Stephen Stoll

Wasilla