Mat-Su staff back two cabins 50 feet from Rainbow Lake despite a conforming site

Mat-Su Borough planning staff recommend a variance that would let Punt Brothers Construction replace a grandfathered 1972 mobile home with two cabins about 50 feet from Rainbow Lake, inside the borough's 75-foot shoreline setback, according to the Planning Commission packet.

The Planning Commission is scheduled to introduce the resolution Nov. 16, with a public hearing Dec. 7.

Staff found that "a conforming building area exists" on the 0.65-acre lot but said using it would require substantial site alteration and may impede a septic system. The lot, in the Meadow Lakes area, has the lake on two sides.

The staff summary describes the cabins as "of similar square footage" to the mobile home. The report's findings put the mobile home at 830 square feet and the two 28-by-36-foot cabins at about 2,016 square feet combined. Staff justify the size by the average on the peninsula, about 2,034 square feet.

The borough sent 71 notices to neighbors. The only reply came from next-door owner David Auld, who wrote that he had no problem with the plan "but if approved it should set a precedent for all other land owners to be allowed to build within 50 of the lake also."

In May, staff recommended denying a 32-foot variance on Middle Caswell Lake because the applicant had a location that met the rules and declined it for "reasons of preference rather than necessity." The commission approved that variance anyway.

A borough memo estimates about 763 buildings have gone up too close to lakes since 1987. An advisory board recommended barring variances within 45 feet of a waterbody, but that ordinance failed Sept. 16, 2025.