Mat-Su weighs a council district for a group staff say does not meet the code

Landowners along Greater Oilwell Road could get the Mat-Su Borough's recognized voice on subdivisions and rezones in their area, and the ability to apply for grant money, under a proposal borough staff recommend approving. Staff also say the group asking for that role doesn't meet the borough's own definition of a community council.

The plan would create a Greater Oilwell Road Community Council District, a boundary on the map, and let the Greater Oilwell Road Community Association speak for the area within it.

The catch is who the association speaks for. Its bylaws limit membership to landowners 18 and older who pay annual dues. A renter is left out. So is a landowner who doesn't pay. The borough memo says that because membership turns on owning land rather than living there, the group "does not meet the community council definition" in borough code.

Staff recommend it anyway, pointing to a similar arrangement at Louise, Susitna and Tyone Lakes, where property owners also outnumber residents, and to the area's distinct access routes and development. Community councils are meant to give residents a recognized forum to weigh in on borough planning, and being inside a designated district is also what makes a group eligible to apply for Community Assistance grants. No grant is on the table yet.

On the rest of the borough's requirements, the association has done what code asks. It held advertised meetings inside the boundaries, community members drew the lines with help from borough mapping staff, and the area falls inside no existing council district.

Several basic things are missing from the packet. The boundary map was listed as an attachment but not included. Neither were the association's bylaws or its own request. The borough does not say how many people live in the proposed district, how many own land there, or how many belong to the association, even as it compares the area to another district where owners outnumber residents. No resident or association officer is named.

The public hearing is Oct. 5, with an assembly vote set for Oct. 20.