Estimates suggest Anchorage needs 10,000 more homes over the next ten years to meet the community’s needs. So, in summer 2024, Assembly members and Mayor LaFrance formed a working group of local design professionals, policymakers, developers, community members, and the Planning Department to make it easier to build housing in the Municipality of Anchorage.

“We have been working on our housing strategy since July 1 because we know more housing will unlock opportunity for our community,” Mayor LaFrance said. “We need housing to support our workforce and our economy, to help young people and families stay here and invest in our community, and to help us address homelessness.”

The group collaborated to fix a section of the zoning code, the site access standards, that had aimed to make communities more walkable but unintentionally caused significant barriers to building housing. Their package of reforms, which better balances community desires with the realities of housing construction, has now been submitted to the Municipality’s Planning and Zoning Commission for public comment. A public hearing is scheduled for Monday, March 3, 2025.

“Anchorage faces increasingly serious housing supply challenges,” said Tyler Robinson, Vice President of Cook Inlet Housing Authority. “It is more expensive and challenging than ever to build housing in Anchorage. The changes to code introduced by the Site Access ordinance fundamentally broke our ability to provide more housing to the community – from single-family homes to large apartment buildings. Fixing this section of code has been our priority for the last 12 months.”

Proposed changes work to balance the needs of cars and pedestrians, public streets and private property. Proposed changes include clarifying standards related to driveway widths, sidewalks, and access to alleys, as well as increasing pedestrian protection from vehicles.

Working group member John Thurber said, “As a community member who is passionate about the vibrancy of Anchorage’s neighborhoods and safety for pedestrians and bicyclists, I have appreciated the opportunity to participate in this working group process. I am not a

planner, engineer, or architect, and it can be difficult to track the real-life impacts of changes to Title 21. It’s hard to visualize what technical code translates to in the real world. Although the process didn’t lead to group consensus, the working group environment was welcoming and informative and helped me better visualize code. I encourage everyone to look at the proposed changes and provide comments.”

The public can also learn about the changes in advance of the public hearing when the working group presents their proposal to the Federation of Community Councils on Monday, February 24 from 6:30-7:30 p.m. via Zoom. 

“Bringing together a group of people with diverse experiences and expertise in an accessible and collaborative working group environment has been an effective way to problem-solve the issues that arose from the Site Access ordinance,” said Anchorage Assembly Member Anna Brawley. “We are looking forward to receiving additional community feedback as we work to bring an updated ordinance to the Assembly later this spring.”

More details of the proposed changes can be found on CityView by searching Project Number 2025-0018, or by following the link below: https://www.muni.org/CityViewPortal/Planning/Status?planningId=18143
 

The Planning and Zoning Commission will hold a public hearing regarding the proposed amendment to Title 21 on March 3, 2025 at 6:30 p.m. in the Assembly Chambers of the Z.J. Loussac Library, 3600 Denali Street, Anchorage. This is an opportunity for the public to participate and voice their thoughts, opinions, and concerns.

People who attend in person can share public testimony on a first come, first served basis. Others can call or submit written comments. Written comments are due by February 10, 2025, and can be submitted in the following ways:

by CityView:                    http://munimaps.muni.org/planning/allcomments.cfm (case number 2025-0018)
by email:                           Anchorage2040@muni.org
by fax:                                 (907) 343-7927
by mail:                              Current Planning Division
                    MOA Planning Department
                   P.O. Box 196650
                    Anchorage, AK 99519-6650

The Federation of Community Councils recently introduced a new series, Local Lens, to help community members to get involved on topics that impact Anchorage by hearing from those working directly on the issues. After local presentations, a Q&A session can help attendees explore their curiosity or concerns.