Anchorage Assembly ordinance restores parking permit rule its planning commission voted 8-0 to cut

Building a parking lot or garage of 50 spaces or more in one of Anchorage's general business districts would take a public hearing and case-by-case approval, under an ordinance the Assembly takes up this month.

The city's planning commission recommended, 8-0 in July, dropping that requirement. But the commission's votes are advisory, and when the Planning Department redrafted the ordinance afterward, it kept the requirement in. Whether it stays is now up to the Assembly, which has not yet decided.

Two other uses would get the same treatment: self-storage facilities and storage yards. All three are allowed outright today.

The argument for the change is housing. That business zone has quietly become one of the places Anchorage builds homes, accounting for about 810 housing units since 2014 and nearly two thirds of the city's new senior housing. Sponsors Anna Brawley and Daniel Volland want those parcels steered toward housing rather than storage units and asphalt. By the Planning Department's count, more than half the properties in the city with surface lots of 50-plus spaces sit in that zone.

A quieter piece of the rewrite has drawn less attention. The ordinance also rewrites the stated purpose of the zone, striking existing language about protecting adjacent residential areas, landscaping, traffic control, environmental impacts and auto-related uses.

The measure started as a narrower proposal from Assembly Member Felix Rivera in May 2025 that would have covered self-storage alone. When the commission held its hearing this summer, nobody testified.

Introduction is Sept. 15 and the public hearing is Oct. 20. If passed, it takes effect immediately.