06/02/2024

Written By Guest User

Land Use

  • NEW: New development along Tudor road: A site plan review application has been submitted for a new three-story, 101,000 square foot health services building for the Southcentral Foundation. An existing car wash and drive-through coffee kiosk will be demolished for the project. Note that the property owner plans to build 100,000 square feet of integrated parking garage despite parking not being mandated by Anchorage zoning. Why is a project of this type required to provide 5,077 square feet of private open space? (See page 50). And why did a project like this require a paid use determination that it is a healthcare facility–doesn't the MOA list and define these things in the zoning code already? (See page 60).

  • ONGOING: The Girdwood Comprehensive Plan has been submitted as Planning & Zoning case number 2024-074 for review. Some interesting proposed policies:

    • POLICY E3.1: All roads and parking lots don’t have to be paved.

    • POLICY E4.3: Enhance existing and build new infrastructure to support future climate norms.

    • POLICY H1.4: Encourage property renovations that increase density through regulatory changes, tax, or financial incentives where appropriate zoning allows.

    • POLICY H2.2: All residential zoning in Girdwood allows for duplex developments with multi-family housing (more than triplex) allowed in targeted areas.

    • POLICY H2.5: Encourage and explore alternatives for more affordable housing such as but not limited to single-family housing and detached development: for example, small lot, shared equity housing, or unit lot subdivisions. 

  • NEW: Variance for setbacks and lot coverage for a commercial structure in Mountain View. An example of how Anchorage makes simple changes to building use complex: While getting permits to convert this building into assisted living, someone apparently discovered the structure had non-conforming features deemed no longer acceptable. As a result, the property owner is requesting a variance to lot coverage and to be able remove the offending features (a shed and canopies which extend into setbacks and in some cases into the alley and the right-of-way). Note that the intent of the B-1A district is “for small, compact commercial sites or areas within or surrounded by residential areas…Uses are to be limited in intensity to promote their local orientation, [and] promote pedestrian access…”, although the maximum lot coverage restriction for the zone is still 50%. By our rough calculations, the existing building exceeds the lot coverage restriction by about 4%, or 250 square feet. Without approval of the variance, “...This requirement will cause the owner to demo the existing building in total not to allow us to remove the only illegal non-conforming features. Without the Variance this structure would have no usable value.”

Also worth noting that if these canopies are removed, the building will be a simple box--something the MOA planning department's site access saga and pedestrian amenity menus have just spent years trying to discourage. According to 21.07.060.G, canopies are considered a “pedestrian amenity” that “...can provide visual interest and wayfinding orientation to primary entrance” and “...improve and enhance the community and respond to Anchorage’s northern latitude climate.”  Variances may cost between $710 and $3,965; this one will also apparently require a hearing at the Zoning Board of Examiners and Appeals (ZBEA) in July. 

  • NEW: Landscaping protections for industrial areas: An alternative equivalent compliance review has been requested for a property in lower midtown, although it’s not totally clear whether it is due to a change of use of the building or some other reason. Examples like these are a bit dry, but they illustrate the particularity of the code for an unclear overall benefit. From the application: “The required Parking Lot Perimeter Landscaping bed cannot be installed in this area as it will impede this fire lane. 1,039 SF of Parking Lot Perimeter Landscaping beds cannot be provided at the south of the site, so Parking Lot Interior Landscaping beds have been increased by 1,161 SF as an alternative equivalence. The 7 trees and 39 shrubs that cannot be planting [sic]...at the south of the site will be located within the additional planting beds in the Parking Lot Interior. Beyond this minimum to achieve equivalence, an additional 122 SF, 1 tree, and 16 shrubs are being provided in expanded parking lot termination beds”. According to chapter 7, the purpose of these standards is to: “...integrate new or renovated development into the surrounding community and is required along property perimeters that abut another zoning district or a public right-of-way.” See what the area looks like now in street view. 

  • ONGOING: Modifications to the Alyeska master plan are back at the Monday, June 3, 2024 Planning & Zoning Commission meeting. Application and staff report.

  • ONGOING: The HOME zoning reform discussion returns to the Planning & Zoning Commission at the June 10, 2024 PZC meeting. Recall that this topic was discussed at the 5/20/2024 PZC meeting, towards the end of which the PZC chair admonished: “I would like to see the sponsors and staff get in a room and mend some of this lack of trust, staff you’re going to need to put some effort into that relationship.”

  • NEW: Another Op-Ed in favor of zoning reform by over twenty residents (both renters and homeowners): “Anchorage will never be a “great northern city” until it is great for everyone, from students to new residents to first-time homebuyers to retirees. We encourage our fellow residents to support zoning reform and help restore homebuilding and housing choice in Anchorage. The idea that sprawling, homogeneous neighborhoods cast in amber by restrictive and exclusionary zoning codes are the ideal for everyone has run its course. We need to stop looking back to the 1990s and instead look forward to the coming decades. Our neighborhoods can be vibrant, welcoming and open to gentle organic development that serves residents and meets our city’s present and future needs.”  In the ADN.

Transportation

  • NEW: AMATS Technical Advisory Committee on Thursday June 6, 2024 from 1pm-3pm. Discussion of HSIP project nominations, dealing with the corrective actions meted out to AKDOT by the federal government (“The DOT&PF must develop and implement processes and procedures for a continuing, cooperative, and comprehensive planning process that meets the requirements of 23 CFR 450.208.”), and the long range transportation strategy (note: the URL appears to be titled the “Long Range Transportation Policy Plan”).

  • LAST WEEK: Anchorage Protected Bike Lane Pilot has been installed downtown on 6th and A streets after a ribbon cutting last week, reportedly with a sizable and very happy crowd in attendance.  Project page. Alaska Public Media story. Muni press release.

  • LAST WEEK: City Nerd Nite: Transportation Talks: The recording from the May 30, 2024 event is now available:

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