Mat-Su developers say ‘4-plexes’ on acre lots are good for buyers — but others raise concern about sewage

PALMER — Mat-Su developers have hit upon a new way to sell inexpensive housing in their subdivisions: build four small houses on a single one-acre lot, often with a single well and four separate septic systems.

The homes — known as detached fourplexes — are cheaper for buyers and attractive to builders and real estate agents.

But now that government officials and neighbors have raised questions about the potential for fourplexes on small lots to become the sources of sewage pollution, the Matanuska-Susitna Borough is reviewing whether new rules are needed.

The borough eased its multifamily residential code in 2013, allowing builders to put up to six housing units on an acre lot before borough regulations kicked in. The change had the effect of increasing low-cost housing.

But the Mat-Su Assembly decided in a special meeting last month to direct planning staff to review that code in light of concerns from community members, Borough Manager John Moosey said.

"We have a growing community but also too we want a quality community and we're going to strive to do that," Moosey said.

Fighting back

Byler Contracting, the Wasilla company that started the fourplex boom in 2010, is already signaling its displeasure with the meeting and a borough statement about it.

The company has prepared a 3,500-word rebuttal to the assembly, calling any future restrictions on fourplex development unwarranted, bad for the borough and "simply an effort to pander to a few vocal neighboring property owners." The letter appears to threaten legal action.

Mae Sprague, a real estate agent who works with the builder, Dennis Byler, provided Alaska Dispatch News an advance copy of the letter. It hadn't been sent yet because the company attorney is out of town, Sprague said Friday.

Comments at the special meeting last month "communicate that Byler Contracting has purposely created a product that avoids permit requirements and because of this the community needs government intervention and protection," the letter says. "Nothing could be farther from the truth."

Among other things, the company also takes issue with borough planners for "misleading" comparisons with other kinds of large-scale septic systems and inaccurate descriptions of emergency services access problems.

In his letter, Byler demands an immediate retraction, correction and apology: "It is hoped that this matter can be resolved amicably, but Byler Contracting is very protective of its reputation and is determined to defend the same."

'Matter of time'

Developments with detached fourplexes are located around the Valley from the more suburban core area to Big Lake and Willow. They're also starting to show up on the Kenai Peninsula and around Fairbanks.

James Brown lives with his daughter and young grandson in a rental at a dense detached fourplex development near Hatcher Pass.

Brown praised the quality of the construction, the radiant floor heat, high-quality fixtures and his $1,350 monthly rent.

He was less positive about the threat of future contamination from sewage, with a total of eight septic systems within legal but close range of one another in the porous gravel, where wastewater percolates easily.

"I'm sure the 'perc' of this ground is very good but eventually it won't matter," Brown said of the clustered systems, expecting they would fail.

Without warning

Mat-Su records show that at least 140 parcels are classified as detached multifamily, with an average lot size of an acre and a half.

An established 84-unit development up Knik-Goose Bay Road is known as Vince Estates. Another, Fishhook Junction, is being built on 20 1-acre lots of recently forested land along Wasilla-Fishhook Road near Hatcher Pass.

The local community council didn't get wind of Fishhook Junction until homes on the ground began multiplying, said Joe Irvine, Fishhook Community Council secretary.

The development is "directly counter to our comprehensive plan," a local land-use guide that calls for green space and buffers between roads and homes, Irvine said.

The council plans to ask the Mat-Su Assembly to enact a moratorium on detached fourplexes until the borough can address emergency access, well-water contamination, runoff and alignment with community comprehensive plans.

Irvine counted about 55 homes in the subdivision on a recent drive-through.

"It's that idea that you have a town develop when you have 55 houses in one little place," he said. "And it happened basically within two years. It's a shock to everyone."

Contamination concerns

Some officials are concerned that the density of the fourplexes — and the associated septic systems — come with the potential for future problems with groundwater contamination.

Septic systems work by settling solids in an underground tank, while liquids flow into the ground where bacteria colonies consume the biodegradable matter. Periodic pumping of the tank is necessary to remove the solids.

The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation only recently began requiring an engineering plan review and approval for detached fourplexes, according to Oran Woolley, the engineer in the agency's on-site disposal systems Wasilla office. Septic systems must be installed to comply with a state-mandated 100-foot separation from a drinking water well.

The agency's concerns about these and any high-density residential developments involve groundwater contamination, Woolley said. Why? It takes time for the ground to neutralize contaminants from sewage.

"If you start getting high-density residential — well, septic, well, septic — the density of those developments can exceed what the ground is capable of actually treating," he said. "That is a land-use planning issue for the borough."

Review underway

The borough doesn't require land-use permits. Provided the fourplex homes have the required separation, no fire code review is required. Developer Byler said the homes he builds comply with the separation requirement.

With so little oversight, "this is the sweet spot for a developer," Mat-Su development services manager Alex Strawn said during the June meeting.

During the same meeting, planners pointed to several older, large shared septic systems that failed over the years, including one along the Knik River platted in 1976 and later abandoned by the developer that remains a problem.

The older, communal systems are very different from the type of individual septics going in with detached fourplexes, officials say.

But the tight space of this new type of development could create a new potential problem, they say: Even the best-maintained septic systems can fail after a few decades.

"The thing we may want to contemplate: At some point in the future, if the septic has to be relocated, is there adequate room on that parcel for that to happen?" Mat-Su planning director Eileen Probasco asked the Assembly.

Since 2003, Byler has built approximately 1,000 residential units and had three septic systems fail, the company's letter to the Assembly states. "In these cases where the systems failed, there was more than adequate property held in reserve for a new septic system; this is Byler Contracting practice."

The review of the rules by the borough is expected to take six to eight months.

'Not scientifically backed'

The detached fourplex development style took off about five years ago in Mat-Su, where the population just topped 100,000 and continues to grow at a pace faster than any other large region in the state.

Rent in the borough can be pricey and affordable housing, scarce.

Builder Byler said it was borough officials who came to him seeking more affordable housing options a few years back. He complied and pioneered the detached multifamily style.

Byler — a Valley builder since 2003 — took offense at Woolley's comments regarding the risks of groundwater contamination from high-density developments.

"I take issue with that statement big time because it's not scientifically backed," Byler said. "It's just a speculative opinion."

Scientists examining how gravel interacts with wastewater established the 100-foot well setback Byler and others follow, as well as a 4-foot separation from the water table, he said.

"I've built more units in the Valley than anybody," Byler said. "There is not a single well you can go out there and prove the septic system has contaminated it."

'Live for free'

Byler pioneered what he says is a simple and common-sense strategy: Give buyers and renters a decent price range but without the shared walls and squabbling neighbors of an old-fashioned fourplex.

His homes also provide an income opportunity for property owners: People buy the lot, get a custom home to live in and then rent out the three smaller homes to cover the cost of their mortgage.

"Rent 3, live for free" signs posted on Byler properties direct people to a website that features Byler Contracting, Mat-Su Realty and Appraisal, and Academy Mortgage Corp.

The strategy allows a buyer to get into a 1-acre parcel for $25,000 or $30,000 down, according to Mat-Su Realty and Appraisal owner Sprague, who's partnered with Byler since 2006.

Typically, the owners live for free and make maybe $300 or more on top of paying their mortgage, Sprague said. About half use property managers to run the rentals.

For now, most of Byler's detached fourplexes are in Mat-Su, she said.

"But in the future we're going to be building them everywhere," Sprague said. "And when I say everywhere, we'll go to the Bush. We'll be in Kodiak, in Seward, everywhere. There's no place that these won't work."