Wasilla wants a plan; sign issue lights the way

WASILLA — A recent application before the city planning commission highlights the need for an new comprehensive use plan, said City Planner Jim Holycross, a process he hopes to begin next month.

The application before the planning commission Tuesday night was to rezone three lots off of Lucille Street from rural-residential to commercial. The lots total 11.3 acres and are already in commercial use. The businesses affected include K and K Enterprises, Pacific North Construction and Sign Source.

The main organizer of the application, Nick Fonov, said the businesses are limited by the rural-residential zoning. There is more flexibility on commercially zoned lots, and the buildings could be used to their full potential, he said.

According to Holycross, there is a more simple explanation for the application. The businesses want to put up larger signs.

“Right now, we allow commercial use up to 10,000 square feet on a residential lot. That’s a pretty big space, but they are limited in the size of sign they can have,” said Holycross.

“This is the folly of the current (comprehensive use) plan. In a mixed zone residential, they can’t have a commercial sign,” he said.

Holycross wants to fix the inconsistency by creating a new comprehensive plan for the city. The current plan, passed in 1996, is filled with inconsistencies like this, said Holycross. His hope is a new plan will set the standards for how Wasilla will grow and develop in the future.

“The comp plan is so outdated that it’s become hard to implement. An updated plan will set the vision and the contacts for how the citizens want to see their town to develop in the next 20 years,” Holycross said.

Currently, the planning department is negations with a consulting firm that will create the new plan. Holycross expects the contract to be signed in the next month, then the plan will take 12 to 18 months to create.

The completed plan will include sections on vision and goals, existing conditions, population projections, growth and annexation, housing, transportation, future and economic development and public facilities. The plan will conclude with a section focusing on how the city will implement the plan.

Throughout the process, community involvement will be paramount, said Holycross. Surveys, workshops and focus groups in the community will determine what the citizens of Wasilla value.

“For example, we will ask, ‘Do you want lighted commercial corridors around the highways, or should they remain dark residentials?’” Holycross said. “These values will set the policy contacts, then we will create implementing codes that will implement the contacts they want.”

The implementing codes will guide the way the city develops and avoid issues like the one before the planning commission on Tuesday, said Holycross.

Even after the planning commission voted to approve the zoning change, the application now must go before the city council. A motion to vote on the application has to be introduced two weeks in advance. The next city council meeting is not until April 13, so the vote will not happen until the meeting on April 27.

“By then, hopefully the contract will be signed with the consultant,” Holycross said.

Contat Todd L. Disher at todd.disher@frontiersman.com or 352-2252.