Commission recommends reducing building setback from pedestrian easements from 25 to 10 feet to encourage easement dedication

The Matanuska-Susitna Borough Planning Commission on Oct. 20 voted to adopt Resolution 25-21, recommending the assembly amend MSB 17.55 to reduce the minimum building setback from public rights-of-way and pedestrian easements.

Alex Strachan, planning and land use director, told commissioners that the borough code currently requires a 25-foot setback from all public rights-of-way and that many pedestrian easements are only about 10 feet wide. He said the proposed change would reduce the setback to 10 feet from a pedestrian easement to align the setback with typical easement widths and to avoid making large portions of lots effectively unusable.

Strachan cited Settlers Bay Subdivision as an example where developers or lot owners may not have anticipated existing pedestrian easements when lots were created. "The intent of this is to try to incentivize the dedication of pedestrian easements," he said.

Commissioners discussed that a 10-foot setback from the easement combined with a typical 10-foot easement on each side of a lot would still create a substantial pedestrian corridor (discussants calculated an effective 30-foot to 40-foot swath in some configurations).

Commissioner Scoggin moved adoption of Resolution 25-21; Commissioner Carpenter seconded. The motion carried without objection; the record shows the resolution was adopted by unanimous consent.

The commission forwarded the change to the assembly for consideration as an amendment to borough code.