Anchorage Assembly leaders propose extending multifamily design-rule pause through 2035

Anchorage Assembly Chair Anna Brawley and Vice Chair Daniel Volland have proposed keeping most of the city's suspended residential design rules for multifamily and townhouse projects on hold through Dec. 31, 2035. One exemption, covering building-frontage standards, would instead end when the ordinance takes effect rather than being extended. That is more than seven years past the current end date of May 31, 2028. Their ordinance is up for a reading Nov. 4, with a public hearing set for Dec. 15.

The Assembly approved the original pause on Feb. 11, 2025. The municipality has tied it to its 10,000 Homes in 10 Years strategy and the Assembly's Housing Action Plan, and framed it as a pause rather than a repeal so the city could collect data and evaluate the results.

The paused rules cover wall articulation, exterior finishes, ornamental features and roofline modulation. Screening requirements for mechanical and electrical equipment would stay in place, and the standards would still apply to visitor accommodations and dormitories.

The ordinance says the military buildup at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, with more than 2,500 additional personnel expected, and potential projects such as the LNG pipeline pushed the city's estimate of new and rehabilitated homes needed above 12,000. It says developers are already planning projects that would be permitted after 2028, and that updating the Comprehensive Plan, the city's long-range growth plan, will take several years, with any zoning changes taking longer.

Developers told an Aug. 28 work session the pause helped projects "pencil," or become financially viable. A preliminary Planning Department analysis found the pause tied to a modest drop in zoning review time and review cycles, but said a larger data set is needed. Cook Inlet Housing Authority asked the Assembly to make the pause permanent, Alaska News reported Aug. 29, while neighborhood councils asked that it be narrowed.

At a Sept. 1 Assembly meeting, Brawley credited several housing policies at once, including the design-standard pause. "It's really the impact of doing multiple things at once," she said.

The measure would skip Planning and Zoning Commission review. It would take effect on passage and require the Planning Department to report to the Assembly by Sept. 30 each year on how well it is encouraging multifamily building.

Residents can testify at the Dec. 15 hearing or comment through the Assembly's online testimony form.