Mat-Su Borough Considering Changes to Land Use Code

Since 2009, a mandatory land use permit for any building over 480 square feet has been in place in the Mat-Su Borough. But that requirement was gutted in 2011, according to Borough Planning and Land Use Director Alex Strawn. Currently, it only applies to buildings within 75 feet of a waterbody, but most of those are already not allowed.

The proposed changes by District 4 Assemblymember Maxwell Sumner would remove the land use permit requirement altogether. Strawn says this would make it a mandatory review process instead. 

“You know, it takes staff time to review these things, but it’s not a lot, and he [Sumner] wanted something that’s very fast and easy to do that catches a lot of potential violations.”

This proposed change will be discussed at next week’s Assembly meeting and has been suggested for referral to the Planning Commission for review.

Also up for referral to the Planning Commission are changes to the setback requirements for pedestrian easements. Proposed by District 2 Assemblymember Stephanie Nowers, this change would drop the current 25-foot setback requirement to 10 feet. Strawn says the effort is to encourage more pedestrian areas and it would allow property owners more use of their land. 

“[It’s to] sort of incentivize developers to accommodate pedestrians in their neighborhoods.”

Two other proposed changes to land use code have already been referred to the Planning Commission for review.

The Large Lot District would designate specific areas that could only be subdivided to a minimum five-acre lot size. The goal is to avoid overcrowding and excessive traffic in areas designated as large lot communities. The majority of the residents in the area would need to agree for this designation to be placed.

Another proposed change would allow smaller-than-one-acre lots in certain circumstances. The change would apply to Single-Family Lot Sizes in subdivisions to reduce the lot size requirement from 40,000 to 30,000 square feet. Strawn says this would allow a clustered development style. 

“So, if a developer owns a piece of property, they want to subdivide it and get a little more money out of it by having smaller lots, they can do so if they add it to this list of single-family residential land use districts and then all these rules would apply.”

Now the Planning Commission could be reviewing four proposed land use code changes if the Assembly refers the two on Tuesday’s agenda.