Tall towers and Hatcher Pass on Assembly agenda

Tall towers and motorized use areas were a few of the items on the agenda for Tuesday night’s Mat Su Borough Assembly meeting.

A public hearing on the Government Peak development plan drew a number of people to speak their minds about proposals to put a motorized-travel corridor through Hatcher Pass, an area that has been designated as a non-motorized recreation area.

Dan Harrell is on the Mat Su Parks, Recreation and Trails Advisory Board. He says this issue has gone on a long time:

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The Parks, Rec and Trails board narrowly rejected a resolution that would support the motorized corridor at a recent meeting. There are numerous considerations the Board evaluated, including the increased chances of conflict and safety concerns when motorized and non-motorized areas overlap. There are many land-owners in the area who purchased property knowing that Hatcher Pass had been designated non-motorized, and Harrell says many of these concerns were brought up during public hearing at the Parks, Rec and Trails meeting.

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Other areas that are under consideration for motorized use include Jim Creek, which Harrell says he supports because it is good for people to have a place to go undertake these activities.

The Government Peak development plan was adopted by the Assembly with no changes, meaning the motorized-use corridor was not incorporated in the final plan.

Under new business at Tuesday’s Assembly meeting, a resolution that would bring back Tall Tower ordinances was put on the table. The issue has been contentious since the regulations were thrown out in 2011, and residents no longer had an opportunity to object to towers adjacent to their property, on occasion blocking views. In fact, without regulations, residents often only found out about a tower coming to a landscape near them after the tower had been put up.

Warren Keough sponsored the resolution to restore ordinances.

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The Assembly will either adopt or reject Tower Ordinances at a January meeting.