12/15/2024

Written By TLUI

Land Use

  • ONGOING: Sales tax. AO 2024–105(S) is item 10.G.9 at the 12/17/2024 Assembly meeting. See explanation of changes in AM 1018-2024. Items 10.G.10, 10.G.11, 10.G.12, also related. 

  • ONGOING:  “State puts Anchorage’s Fish Creek trail extension on hold after Marathon Petroleum objects to route" in the ADN: “ In an unusual move, Alaska’s Department of Transportation recently halted work on a long-awaited Anchorage trail connection project after Marathon Petroleum objected to the proposed route.” See also “Unexplained halt of Fish Creek Trail Connection project prompts confusion, outrage” in the Alaska Land Mine: “Haxby told the Landmine that Alaska DOT&PF Commissioner Ryan Anderson visited his house, and at that time expressed strong disapproval for the trail.” See also Alaska’s News Source: “Questions raised around future of Anchorage’s Fish Creek Trail project following route concerns”. Also mentioned in agenda item 10.B.7 in AR 2024–407 at the 12/17/2024 Assembly meeting, listed on the agenda for the 12/19/2024 AMATS Policy Committee meeting, and Bike Anchorage has posted a request for additional information on their website.

  • ONGOING: Updating transit-supportive corridors and expanding tax incentives for multifamily housing. AO 2024-11. From AM 906-2024: 

“The proposed ordinance provides an update to the map in section 12.70.080 which designates those properties as lying within a “transit-supportive corridor” and, as such, potentially having access to the property tax exemptions authorized under chapter 12.70. Specifically, the proposed map connects the two corridors on Muldoon Road and Tudor Road into one contiguous corridor. Additionally, the ordinance requests the Planning Department prepare an amendment to the Anchorage Land Use Map to align it with the changes proposed herein.”

Correction: last week we wrote that this AO would update Transit-Supportive Corridors in the 2040 Land Use Plan--this was not accurate, as the AO instead directs the Planning Department to make the changes, presumably through a separate ordinance. 

“The Commission did not adopt staff recommendations regarding vegetative buffers and potential future parkland, and instead directed the project team to work with the Planning Commission to resolve these issues. Staff and Huddle AK (Imagine! Girdwood’s representative) met on July 24, 2024, to discuss these issues, and came up with two additional amendments. These are amendments #1 and #2 in the AO.”

  • ONGOING: Establishing the Mcdowell Sanctuary as municipal parkland. AO 2024-116 is item 14.G at the 12/17/2024 Assembly meeting. 

  • NEW: “Wet wipes flushed down Anchorage toilets wreak havoc on city water utility, contributing to higher costs”in the ADN: “Organic matter that arrives at Asplund is incinerated. But the tons of matted wipes can’t be, and instead are diverted and then put into dump trucks to be hauled off each day to the landfill, along with about five tons of ash from the incinerated poop.”

  • NEW: “Tenants frustrated after more than 2 months without a working heating system in Anchorage apartment complex” the ADN: 

“Anchorage’s stock of multifamily housing, where a lot of people without much money tend to live, is aging and degrading. Romig Court is one such case. Problems compound when routine upkeep is neglected and repairs ignored. That can eventually render homes so dangerous or unlivable that city building inspectors say they face the difficult choice of trying to compel property owners to fix them or order them to vacate the premises, putting tenants out on the street with few other options.”

  • NEW: Informational memo on sidewalk snow removal. AIM 206-2024: 

“After a snowfall, the MOA’s sidewalk snow management efforts focus first on sidewalks that provide access to schools and transit stops. Crews then shift to clearing snow from sidewalks adjacent to arterial and collector streets, which are often called main streets. With limited exceptions, municipal crews do not clear snow from sidewalks in residential areas.” 

At the 12/17/2024 Assembly meeting.

  • NEW: New Downtown library branch: From AM 1004-2024: “The Municipality of Anchorage (MOA), the Anchorage Library Foundation (ALF), and the Anchorage Public Library are working together to establish a downtown library branch.” From AM 1003-2024: “ The Old City Hall Building is the planned location of the Downtown Library Branch pending the outcome of the engineering survey and design concept to be paid for by the grant.” See also AR 2024-401. At the 12/17/2024 Assembly meeting.

  • NEW: “Anchorage has recorded 47 outdoor deaths in 2024” in the ADN: “New data from the Anchorage Police Department shows that the record number of deaths in 2023, rather than being an anomaly, may have been the beginning of a persistent rise in outside deaths among Anchorage’s homeless population.”

Transportation

“When the U.S. Department of Transportation in 2002 dropped the city from its Essential Air Service (EAS) program, they left the door open for reinstatement in the future, which is what happened earlier this year...Mike Reeve with Reeve Air said the flights “add nicely into our mix of aircraft and schedule” but said without the subsidy, there would not be enough business in the winter to offer three flights per week…If chosen, Reeve said they would charge about $175 per ticket, with fares subject to up and down depending on the season.”

For comparison, a roundtrip ticket on the Alaska Railroad in May 2025 is $188.

  • NEW: Anchorage Police Department Bicycle-Pedestrian Citations 2018-2024. AIM 201-2024. Item 10.F.3 at the 12/17/2024 Assembly meeting.

  • NEW: One month report on preventing roadway deaths. The report mentions progress on lighting, data collection, speed studies and more. Item 10.F.10 at the 12/17/2024 Assembly meeting.

  • NEW: Ordinance making it illegal to walk across public right-of-way except in certain places.  AO 2024-130 would add the following language to Title 9 of municipal code: “No pedestrian may cross a roadway at any place other than by a route at right angles to the curb or by the shortest route to the opposite curb.” Does this make crossing at a 93 degree angle illegal? The AO would also prohibit crossing outside of a crosswalk when within 150 feet of a marked crosswalk or signalized intersection, but does not otherwise appear to re-criminalize jaywalking. The ordinance would sunset December 31, 2026.

  • NEW: AMATS policy committee meeting on December 19, 2024. Project updates on the Fish Creek Trail Project, a special meeting for the Policy Committee on the Fish Creek Trail Project, and protected bike lane (PBL) Pilot Project Findings.

  • NEW: AKDOT and the erosion of local control. Letter to the editor in the Fairbanks Newsminer. A portent of things to come? 

“As a member of the FAST Planning Policy Board and a Fairbanks resident I am concerned about the changes proposed by the Alaska Department of Transportation (DOT) to our intergovernmental operating agreement. While the DOT brought this forward as a minor update which will lead to improved coordination, the practical impact threatens to erode local control which makes our transportation planning process responsive and effective for Fairbanks.”

  • ONGOING: AKDOT Fairview/Rogers Park/Airport Heights Highway Expansion Project open house. New materials are now available for AKDOT’s project to connect the Glenn Highway to the Seward Highway through central Anchorage. The project team is now proposing a 4 lane “parkway” rather than 6 lane freeway:

“Some commentors asked if a freeway was even necessary. General sentiments against the freeway options resulted in a parkway connection for regional traffic, use of at-grade intersections, reducing the number of lanes and traffic speed, reducing right-of-way impacts by using tunnels, and adding an enhanced Metropolitan Transportation Plan (MTP) alternative (denoted MTP+) that builds on the adopted AMATS MTP 2050 plan…The MTP 2050 Alternative received significant support during the February-April 2024 comment period.”

Cost estimates vary from $139 million to $442 million (but judging from AKDOT's wildly variable cost estimates on every other project, those numbers are likely just the starting point). See also “DOT introduces revised alternatives for Seward to Glenn Highway connector”In Alaska’s News Source. One big question remaining is whether or not AKDOT traffic engineers have updated their assumptions considering the most recent population projections. The public comment period is open until January 23. Comments may be submitted online, by phone, or directly to info@sewardglennconnection.com 

TLUI
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12/8/2024