Mat-Su Assembly rejects public hearing requirement for multifamily housing projects

PALMER — Construction of new multifamily housing in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough will continue without public hearings after the Mat-Su Assembly rejected a measure that would have added the requirement.

The change would have made new multifamily developments the only type of housing construction in the borough to require both a permit and a public hearing.

Assembly member Tim Hale, whose district includes Butte, proposed the update. The Assembly voted 5-2 last week to reject the measure, with Hale and Assembly member Dee McKee, whose district includes parts of Palmer and Wasilla, voting yes.

Borough code requires builders to obtain a permit for each new multifamily housing development, but it does not mandate a public notification process to alert existing nearby property holders. Such housing can affect adjacent property values, and Hale said he wanted to add the requirement to give existing residents more say over those changes.

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Borough officials said the permits are used to help the borough ensure the construction plans meet basic septic and design standards. Permits are required for housing developments with more than six units per lot, or for new construction of more than two dwellings per 40,000 square feet — an area slightly smaller than a football field.

A permit is not required if any of the units on the lot are intended for short-term use, such as vacation rentals, officials said. Officials must issue a permit decision within 10 days of receiving the application, according to borough code.

Some assembly members said they opposed the proposal because requiring a public hearing could ultimately increase housing costs by triggering higher permit fees and delaying construction.

“I’d be embarrassed if this assembly passed an ordinance that’s going to put the most vulnerable of our population and tell them that we’re willingly increasing the cost of their housing. And that’s the ultimate impact if we support this,” said Maxwell Sumner, whose district includes Wasilla.

Hale said Mat-Su residents should have a way to weigh in on construction that affects their property. He said questions about multifamily developments are among the most common constituent concerns he hears.

“They call me up and they say, ‘Hey, did you know about this?’” And I’m like, ‘No.’ And they say, ‘Well, what can we do about it?’ And the answer that I have to give them is ‘absolutely nothing,’” he said.

Mandating a public hearing could also help borough officials track whether developers are complying with current permitting laws, Hale said in an interview.

While the law requires a permit application and decision before construction begins, developers often apply after the fact, borough planning director Alex Strawn told the Assembly. Although the borough can fine permit scofflaws $500 per infraction, the penalties are not generally enforced, Strawn said.

“Often, people apply for permits because we caught them,” he told the Assembly. “I know we have issued some fines for multifamily developments without a permit, but generally speaking, we just force them to go through the permit process.”

Information on how often developers begin construction without a permit was not immediately available.

About 34 multifamily development permits were issued last year, according to borough data. About 127 new multifamily developments — including those planned as short-term rentals — were built in the Mat-Su in 2024, borough property assessment officials told the Assembly last week.

Information on how many new short-term rentals were built in Mat-Su last year was not immediately available.

Assembly member Stephanie Nowers said she is considering a proposal to require the borough to post information about pending multifamily permits to the borough’s website as a form of public notice. She is also exploring a possible measure to add public hearings for larger developments, such as those with more than 12 units, she said.

Republished with permission from the Mat-Su Sentinel, an independent, nonprofit, nonpartisan online news source. Contact Amy Bushatz at abushatz@matsusentinel.com.