11/3/2024
Land Use
NEW: “How Anchorage Effectively Eliminated Single-Family-Only Zoning” In Planning Magazine:
“...Over the past year, three Anchorage Assembly members…worked hard to overcome NIMBY attitudes and a hard-to-change zoning code to pass the Housing Opportunities in the Municipality for Everyone (HOME) Initiative, which essentially eliminates single-family-only zoning in most of the city. It was a bold move — and an uphill battle…While they worked through the process, the sponsors put forward two substitute versions of the ordinance in September 2023 and January 2024. During that time, they tried working with city staff and the mayor's office but found resistance.”
Planning magazine is the national monthly publication of the American Planning Association.
NEW: “Neglected multifamily housing is posing a risk to residents’ safety, Anchorage fire officials warn” In the ADN:
“Of the approximately 11,000 parcels of land zoned for commercial use — a broad category that includes multi-unit buildings like triplexes and apartment complexes — some 2,600 host residential structures...The larger structural problem, Campbell pointed out, is that more old homes and multifamily buildings are aging faster than comparable new units are being brought online.”
NEW: Related: “2 who set Anchorage’s deadly Royal Suite Lodge fire sentenced to 24 years” In Alaska Public Media:
“According to the Anchorage Daily News, prosecutors said that Eknaty and West had driven drunk and evaded police early on Feb. 15, 2017. They then burned the car they had been driving in a carport at the Royal Suite Lodge off Minnesota Drive, forcing some residents of the 30-unit complex to jump from second-floor windows…Dozens of other people were left unhoused by the fast-moving blaze.”
Decades of policy favoring driveability, low density, and separated uses; one result is drunk driving, aging housing stock, and no replacement units.
NEW: “Economists predict Anchorage housing crisis should improve by 2026” in Alaska’s News Source:
“...Our code is full of well-intentioned ideas about what we want development in the municipality to be like, but the cumulative effect is that it’s now incredibly difficult to build housing in Anchorage,” LaFrance said. “We have to get clear as a community about what our priorities are. If our standards generally prevent us from building housing, they’re not serving us.”
NEW: “Anchorage Mayor LaFrance talks snow plowing, public safety and more in State of the City address” In the ADN:
“To have enough housing for everyone, the city needs about 1,000 new housing units built each year, and in 2024, Anchorage is on track to see less than 200 built, LaFrance said. The administration is looking for ways to encourage housing development through incentives for construction and repair, removal of red tape, and improving service at the permit center, she said. It convened a working group to tackle issues in city zoning code, and the administration is working on an ordinance to update property tax incentives for multi-family housing, LaFrance said.”
NEW: “A tiny house village for homeless seniors aims to open within weeks” in Alaska’s News Source:
“The mostly 8-by-8-foot homes are just large enough to accommodate a bed, a small fridge, a microwave and some shelving. The homes are insulated and will soon be wired for electricity. Bathrooms and showers are located in a separate facility on site. Greene-Graham said nearly everything has been donated and volunteers are doing the work. “There’s no federal money, no municipal money at this point. It’s all been from donations from $10 on up to $100,000,” Greene-Graham said, noting a particularly large donation from the Rasmuson Foundation that helped with the expense of the electrical work.”
NEW: Rezone coming to Rogers park? Some exciting news on the November agenda for Rogers Park, one of Anchorage’s most welcoming and inclusive neighborhoods: “Guest: Ron Thompson from Scope Engineering regarding the proposed rezone along the South Side of E 24th.”
NEW: New sales tax for property tax relief (and projects), AKA Project Anchorage: AO 2024-105. From AM 854-2024:
“This proposed ordinance is comprised of a three percent (3%) aggregated sales and use tax. The proposal includes a 2% sales and use tax dedicated (after the cost of administration, audit and collection) to reducing property taxes within the Municipality, which is subject to the Anchorage Tax Increase Limitation (Tax Cap). It also includes a 1% sales and use tax, the net proceeds of which (after the cost of administration, audit and collection) are to be dedicated to funding Municipal Area Projects (MAPs) and related improvements, as well as their lifetime operations, maintenance, security and safety via a Trust account established for this purpose. The 1% sales and use tax is not subject to the Tax Increase Limitation.”
Item 14.M at the 11/6/2024 Assembly meeting
NEW: November 2024 Alaska Department of Labor Trends magazine: Change in home prices: +9% (Single-family, percent change from prior year, Q2 2024).
NEW: CEDC Thursday, 11/7/2024. No agenda yet posted.
ONGOING: “Anchorage School District officials propose closing 7 elementary schools” in Alaska Public Media:
“District officials had announced this spring that they planned to close more schools due to a steadily declining student population, decreasing birth rates and continued outmigration. They described the effort as “right-sizing” and emphasized that the closures are not intended as a cost-cutting measure, although the district is facing a budget shortfall of between $64 million and $84 million for the upcoming fiscal year.”
LAST WEEK: Confirmation hearing work sessions. On 10/31/2024: Public Works Director at 11:30 am, Municipal Engineer at 12:10 pm, and Planning Director at 1:30pm. Confirmations will be at the 11/6/2024 Assembly meeting.
Transportation
NEW: “First major snow of the season hits Southcentral, prompting warnings of slick roads” In Alaska Public Media:
“Over about five hours in Anchorage on Monday afternoon, police reported 25 car accidents and more than a dozen vehicles in distress. They urged motorists to clear snow off windshields, headlights and taillights before driving, and to slow down on area roads.”
NEW: “Halloween storm turns Anchorage streets into ‘liquid banana peel,’ meteorologist says” in Alaska Public Media:
“National Weather Service meteorologist Michael Kutz said the effects of Thursday morning’s blend are being amplified by the recent snowfall from Anchorage’s first major snowstorm of the winter Monday and Tuesday. “We have that snow and ice that’s on the ground now – a little bit of water on top turns it into liquid banana peel,” Kutz said. The conditions are affecting local traffic, with police reporting 36 accidents – nine of them with injuries – and an additional 3 vehicles in distress by 4 p.m. Thursday.”
Rain in winter is one of three future risk scenarios for Anchorage identified by the UAA Respond to Risk project.
NEW: MOA Plow page now available at www.muni.org/plow. Maps showing plow schedule, neighborhood plow status, sidewalk plowing status, and main streets plowed. On the “main streets plowed” map you can see just how much road/sidewalk real estate AKDOT manages (or fails to maintain) within the city. Article in Alaska Public Media.
NEW: Free parking for persons with disabilities downtown (and higher fines for violators). AO 2024-108. Introduced as item 10.G.3 at the 11/6/2024 Assembly meeting.From AM 865-2024:
“Individuals with disabilities often face significant challenges in mobility. Providing free street meter parking reduces the physical and logistical barriers they encounter, making it easier for them to access essential services, workplaces, and recreational activities. Free parking near their destinations can significantly reduce the distance individuals with disabilities need to travel, thus alleviating the strain on those with limited physical capabilities.”
Per USDOT, there are also many people with disabilities who cannot drive at all.
NEW: AMATS work session on an amendment to the Metropolitan Transportation Plan: The Policy Committee and Technical Advisory Committee are having a joint work session Wednesday, November 6th, 3:00-4:30pm to discuss how they might draft an amendment to the 2050 MTP. The MTP is the 20-year plan for transportation projects and strategies in the Anchorage Bowl and Eagle River/Chugiak (Girdwood is excluded). An amendment is necessary now that DOT&PF's cost estimate for the Seward Highway expansion project has dramatically increased to $1.4 billion in STIP amendment 1 (last line on pg 143). Only 3 miles (15%) of the project is in the AMATS area, so only ~$210 million of the $1.4 billion must be accounted for in the MTP, but that's still a large increase from the $90 million estimate currently in the MTP (pg 61). Making this adjustment to the MTP would result in an unbalanced budget unless other projects are removed.
NEW: The AMATS Technical Advisory Committee meeting on Thursday, November 7th, 1:00-3:00pm will include consideration of recommendations to make to the Policy Committee regarding the Seward Highway widening project in the MTP. Proposed options are outlined in a memo attached to the agenda. There will be an opportunity for public comment on this item during the meeting. Other updates include the Fish Creek Trail Connection, which has thus far seen strong public support but also objections from a few neighboring property owners attempting to block the project. The objectors appear to be upset about losing exclusive access to railroad right-of-way which they seem to have appropriated as their own private yards.
NEW: “The State Says It Wants To Finish The Cooper Landing Bypass. So, Why Does It Keep Trying Not To?” In Radio Kenai:
“Hence, the Bypass, given its $844.5 million price tag, falls into the “Mega Grant” category. “These [are for] really large projects that are difficult to finance; they spread over many years, which is exactly the scenario we’re talking about,” said DOT Spokesperson Shannon McCarthy in 2023. “We’ll go ahead and try to secure funding through that program.” But according to White, it’s not quite as simple as apply for grant; receive grant. “Where we tend to fall short is when they do a cost-benefit analysis of the project.” The cost-benefit analysis (CBA) of a grant application for the Bypass is the crux of both the problem of being awarded a grant and filing a worthwhile grant application at all.”
NEW: “Alaska state troopers arrest state DOT plow driver for alleged drunken driving.” in the Alaska Beacon: “The department did not answer a question asking why Glynn was not caught before he began driving.” Not a good sign for AKDOT staffing capacity.