Wasilla council postpones overhaul of land-development code after hours of review

The Wasilla City Council postponed consideration of Ordinance Serial No. 25-14 — a proposal to repeal and reenact Wasilla Municipal Code Title 16, the city’s land development code — and sent the measure back for further review at the council’s June 9 meeting. Councilors entered a committee of the whole for a multi-hour review, then returned to the full council and approved the postponement with no objections.

Council members and staff said the rewrite would affect a broad range of rules that govern where and how development can occur in Wasilla — from the Downtown Overlay District and annexation procedures to complaint and enforcement processes, permit timelines, definitions for structures and buildings, landscaping rules, parking, and community water/sewer requirements. Because the ordinance would change many interconnected provisions, councilors repeatedly asked staff to clarify statutory authority, grandfathering language and administrative procedures before final adoption.

Council member Graham opened the committee discussion, saying he “asked to put this in a committee of the whole just so we can kind of go through it,” and ran the council through a long list of items staff had drafted. Staff and the city attorney responded to repeated questions about the scope of the code and where the city’s authority begins and ends. Holly, a city staff member responsible for the draft, said the code explicitly calls out certain…