08/04/2024
Land Use
NEW: Assembly Work Session on 8/2/2024 discussing the previous administration’s transition report. A number of data-based insights here, one of which is that over half of the City’s snow graders are past the 10,000 hour mark, which is usually when they need to be replaced. The new administration’s presentation slides can be found here.
NEW: Special limitations zoning from 1985 requiring a major site plan review for a 522 square foot greenhouse in a strip mall. Item G.1 at the 8/5/2024 Planning and Zoning Commission meeting. According to the case packet, “The greenhouse will be accessible and provide a new service for the Southcentral Foundation Elder Program...A greenhouse is a permitted accessory use in a B-3 district. The special limitations require the property to have a public hearing site plan review for any expansion of the existing structures or external new construction (AO 85-104).” On public feedback:“As of this writing, the Department has not received any public comments.” This application was submitted May 20, 2024, so it took a full growing season to get to this point in the permissions process. It seems like just yesterday that the planning department was dedicating its work time to trying to make building greenhouses easier rather than more complicated.
NEW: HUD awarded Cook Inlet Housing Authority $6 million in funding for Affordable housing reported by Alaska Public Media. “Cook Inlet Housing Authority has won a $6 million Indian Housing block grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Cook Inlet CEO Gabe Layman says it was a competitive grant and the funds are in addition to its regular Indian Housing funds…“We’re going to be using this to construct 43 units of housing, about half and half – family housing and elder housing,” he said. “And three of those units will be designated for home ownership…Cook Inlet Housing has built about 2000 rental units in Southcentral Alaska over the past 20 years, making it the main provider of affordable housing in Anchorage.”
LAST WEEK: Geotechnical Advisory Commission work session on 7/30/2024 reviewing the draft South Addition Neighborhood Plan. At 39:58 there is an interesting discussion of how the stated threat of environmental risk can be used to block housing in otherwise attractive areas. See some of the language from the plan in the draft attached to the Commission’s 7/23/2024 meeting agenda.
NEW: East Anchorage book club podcast: Founder of the Mutual Aid Network of Anchorage (MANA) & organizer of the Anchorage Housing Club talks about zoning, development, and the boogie man of renters in Anchorage.
NEW: Car-oriented businesses: Anchorage’s growth industry. Last year everyone was talking about car washes, this year it seems to be garage condos. Along with the new garage condos built recently along Homer drive, there are other new developments on Lake Otis and soon just off Benny Benson near Dawson street (see the 4/28/2024 bulletin for how the new site access rules almost killed this project). Note: they are all along big roads designed for easy driving access. The last two are interesting because they are both in B-3 zoning, where garages are an allowed use, and where garages ultimately align with the purpose statement of the zone, which reads that B-3 “...shall continue to meet the need for auto-related and other auto-oriented uses…”. But both developments are also in the “Transit Supportive Corridors” designated by the 2040 Land Use Plan: “...corridors where expanded public transit service will support a compact, walkable pattern of commercial, residential, and/or mixed-use development”. So are the plans working?
Another interesting aspect of the development on Lake Otis: the planning department appears to have approved it last year despite what could be interpreted as a violation of the special limitations on the property dating from 1996, which explicitly prohibited “off-street parking spaces or structures” in section 2.b.6. Other special limitations in AO 96-89 prohibit “9) gasoline service stations; gas pumps in conjunction with convenience stores;” and “10) off-street taxicab stands;”, suggesting the original intent had something to do with preventing car-centered businesses. Per the notes for the permit (C23-1229): “5/4/23 Per planning special limitations "a" and "b" of Section 2 (AO 96-89), still apply, as well as any use-specific standards for self-storage facilities found in AMC 21.05. Please note that if there be a conflict between these provisions, the more restrictive requirement shall prevail per AMC 21.01.060A; see email”. Two weeks later: “5/19/23 ok for fill and grade permit per D. Whitfield”.
NEW: Department of Labor and Workforce Development August 2024 Trends: “Household debt in Alaska has risen in recent years, hitting its highest point since at least 2003. Much of the recent increase came from rising mortgage payments in 2021 and 2022, when low interest rates, limited inventory, and higher incomes pushed prices to record levels. Auto loan and credit card debt have also gone up. But the amount of debt and whether it's rising doesn’t say anything about how effectively people are managing their debts.”
NEW: Airport traffic control tower plans and assessment documents.
LAST WEEK: The Community and Economic Development Committee meeting on August 1, 2024. The meeting recording was not yet posted online at the time of this writing.
Transportation
NEW: New transit center & mixed use development in East Anchorage: “The city's executive director of public transportation spoke to those gathered about a lot of different things -- a big one being the new transit center that's planned in the Muldoon area of the city. "Basically, this is a mixed-use development in the Muldoon Debarr area that would bring the transit functions off-street," Public Transportation Executive Director Jamie Acton.” Link to the Make it Monday Forum.
LAST WEEK: The Ebike ordinance passed with amendments at the July 30, 2024 Assembly meeting. Here is the S version of 2024-51. The Assembly discusses the amendments at 4:15:01 in the meeting. Vote at 4:44:23.
LAST WEEK: AMATS Technical Advisory Committee meeting. No recording available as of this writing. Project list here.
ONGOING: AMATS Trails Survey open for comment until 8/18/2024. “The Trails Plan guides decision-making on the protection, development, and management of trails.” Take the survey here.
ONGOING: Provide comments on the statewide transportation improvement plan (STIP) by August 5th. Here is the STIP page and here is the page to provide STIP comments. It’s not clear if AKDOT is carrying over comments from previous iterations of this STIP, so you might as well try commenting again if interested. The letter on the STIP that went through the AMATS policy committee two weeks ago is still a must-read.