Assembly makes changes to waiver subdivision rules

The Mat-Su Borough Assembly has amended the platting code to limit subdividing land more than once without going through the full platting process. Until now, there was no cap on how many times a developer could use a streamlined process called waiver subdivisions to subdivide land.

Borough planners said this created problems.

A waiver subdivision was a process intended for large remote parcels and farmland to be subdivided without going through the cumbersome land platting process. When farmers wanted to give a portion of their land to their children, they could use the waiver subdivision provision. Certain conditions applied, such as access to a public road, each parcel being five acres or larger and it was limited to four plots per subdivision.

But over time, the waiver subdivision short-cut was used to create subdivisions within subdivisions, which resulted in oddly shaped properties, confusing access and poorly designed roads.

Borough planner Eileen Probasco said that all road service areas Borough-wide experienced difficulties because of inadequately built access roads. This impacted emergency service response, made for oddly configured land, poor road designs and created drainage problems.

The amendment  is meant to curb these problems. Now, if a land owner wants to further subdivide land after having used one waiver subdivision, he has to go through the full platting process. This involves a comprehensive review to make sure there is sufficient space for roads, drainage, snow storage and emergency responder access.