Mat-Su voters to decide on pot, parks and Assembly seats

Matanuska-Susitna Borough’s election is October fourth. While an initiative on the area – wide ballot regarding a ban on retail marijuana could lure voters to the polls, they will also decide on filling two Borough Assembly seats. But one Assembly race is re-awakening an old conflict.

A bit of spice was added to the spaghetti lunch at the Palmer Moose Lodge last week, when Mat-Su District 1 incumbent Jim Sykes faced challenger Brian Endle in candidate debate.

Sykes is fresh from a successful effort to get state help on a Borough problem: slowing erosion and flooding along a stretch of the Matanuska River in his district. Sykes cited his history of working with different groups to find consensus.

“The DOT only worked in the right of way, and I persuaded them with this particular emergency, that they could work outside of the right of way and help protect people and property as well as the road. So that is a new level of cooperation that I intend to extend as we go forward.”

Endle, on the other hand, raised the ghost of an old controversy. He emphasized his work in driving out supporters of a zoning plan that came before the Buffalo Mine/Soapstone community council back in 2013.

“The Borough worked with our community council and tried to zone us. It was called it a comprehensive plan, but it was the start of zoning. And I got with my neighbors, with their neighbors, and we put the plan down. We got about a hundred people together. We did not want it as a community. So I worked to unite the community, to get them together. We put down the plan, we replaced the [community council] board, and we replaced the by-laws that were there.”

In an area where land use issues dominate politics, the District 1 contest highlights the Borough’s divide over regulations.  Endle  was appointed to the Planning Commission by former Borough mayor, pro-coal advocate Larry DeVilbiss. He has since resigned the post, but he says he supports coal mining as a way to diversify the Borough’s economy. He says he is against zoning, but not adverse to some regulation.

“Planning is not required by law. The ability to plan is required by law. There is a difference there. But if we want to plan we certainly can, and I think we should in some cases.”

Sykes says that communities must initiate their own land use plans, from which future Borough regulations flow

“A community has to ask for this. The Borough does not zone them, a plan does not necessarily result in zoning. It can, if it gets to that step.”]

Sykes says mediating conflict between neighbors over land use is an ongoing challenge. He says property owners need to be informed of potential uses of neighboring properties and can use information provided by the Borough’s platting department and planning division.

But Endle wants more transparency on the part of the Borough.

The two candidate diverge on budget issues as well. The Borough’s loss of almost 6 Million dollars in state revenue sharing has thrown the Borough into a fiscal spin, Endle says

“We need to look at that budget, and look at ways we can reduce it. Most likely, there will be a necessity for taxes here. I want to look at ways to cut it first, before implementing any kind of taxes.”

Sykes says he’s in favor of diversifying the tax base, and would support a gravel tax or or sales tax, but not a property tax increase.

“If we get through the cuts and we find the efficiencies, and we still need to raise revenue, I do not favor raising doing property taxes at all. I think we are paying enough taxes. We need to diversify where we get our tax revenue, not keep jacking up the guys that’s paying ninety percent of the bill.”

Sykes says the Borough is holding on to an excellent credit rating, and is in better shape financially than the state is.

Besides the District one race, Mat Su voters will decide on a $22 million dollar recreation bond when they go to the polls on election day. District 2 Assemblyman Matthew Beck is running unopposed.