04/28/2024

Written By Guest User

Land Use

  • DELAYED: Site access saga-strictest new design standards delayed until 2025. The Assembly voted to amend AO 2024-24, one of the year’s most complicated new bits of regulation, so that the most restrictive sections do not go into effect until late 2025. Members called for the creation of a working group to fix the issues related to how buildings and properties connect to streets and alleys. Notable comments:

    • A local business owner explained how these new rules were about to kill his project. 

    • Assembly member Brawley provides an overview of how the AO got to where it is starting at 2:56:23.

    • Assembly member Zaletel: “...it’s indicative of how problematic Title 21 is as a whole. It’s too complicated. Every time we touch it it has unintended consequences…an urban neighborhood context area–to me is word salad. How do we just create areas where we can build housing for people to live.” (3:06:11)

    • Assembly member Bronga: “…I’ve read through this several times…it’s tough to read…There’s one thing to be all obsessed with a snout house, and another just to get some housing.”  (3:07:55)

This was item 13.A at the April 23, 2024 Assembly meeting.

  • APPROVED: Archives Site Rezone. The site was rezoned to R-4A with a stipulation that an easement allowing for a future daylighting of Fish Creek be provided along the north side of the property. Item 11.B at the April 23, 2024 Assembly meeting.

  • NEW: The HOME zoning reform project published a new webpage with information about the proposal and the public engagement process. From the page: “…the sponsors invite community organizations and housing enthusiasts to schedule conversations about the HOME Initiative through the end of May.”

  • NEW : AO Amending the Comprehensive Plan and Land Use Plan introduced as a laid-on-the-table item at the April 23, 2024 Assembly meeting as 10.G.4. The item was referred to the Planning and Zoning Commission and set for public hearing on June 25th, 2024.  Item 10.G.5 is another laid-on-the-table AO for introduction to clarify the Assembly's legislative powers to set land use policy.

  • NEW:  Historical imagery of Anchorage from as early as 1939 is now available online.

Transportation

  • NEW: AMATS Technical Advisory Committee meeting agenda for May 2, 2024.

  • LAST WEEK: AMATS Policy Committee discussing transportation projects and allocations at their 4/18/2024 meeting. There is an interesting exchange in the recording about deploying limited resources when at 7:16 when the AKDOT representative asks: "Is there a reason that Eagle River projects don’t score well with our scoring criteria?” And at 26:20, the AMATS director explains: 

“AMATS…updated the TIP criteria and that criteria’s focus is on equity, environmental justice, a lot more of the immediate safety concerns that are out there identified through vision zero or the AMATS safety plan that was recently approved.  And Eagle River does not have the same percentage or density of EJ populations out there. Additionally the focus was to look at the 2040 land use plan and focus projects on the areas where density is anticipated to occur. We did try to account for the land use plan that Chugiak Eagle River has, but it has been a while since that has been updated.”

How should Anchorage distribute limited resources across a coverage area spanning such a range of densities? Related: Assembly Chair Constant spoke to the allocation question later in the week at the 4/23/2024 assembly meeting when he commented on a new tax exemption for firefighters in Girdwood/Chugiak Eagle River: “We once again are the pockets that are looked to to underwrite the value…”

Government

Events

Guest User
Previous

05/05/2024
Next

04/21/2024