Anchorage Assembly postpones missing middle housing vote to Nov. 4

The Anchorage Assembly voted 11-0 Wednesday to postpone its Missing Middle Housing Opportunity overlay to its Nov. 4 meeting. Assembly Chair Anna Brawley first closed the public hearing, which began Sept. 15 and resumed Tuesday.

Members want a work session on a substitute version and a raft of amendments that arrived Tuesday night. The overlay would let owners of about 28,000 residential parcels, 45% of the city's total, opt into looser building rules. Roughly 19,000 of those parcels are zoned R-1 or R-2. In R-1 zones, allowed lot coverage would rise from 40% to 70%, according to the ordinance's fiscal analysis.

Assembly Member Erin Baldwin Day, a sponsor, made the motion. She said members must be "on the same page with respect to how those amendments and how that S version interact technically."

Assembly Member Janice Park's substitute removes seismic hazard zones 4 and 5 and splits the overlay into tiers. After 10 years, its development entitlements continue only if net new housing reaches at least 30% of the municipality's 10-year housing targets for the overlay districts and a required city study finds infill has not impaired snow plowing or emergency vehicle access. Park said she is willing to work with anybody on the policy.

Assembly Member George Martinez, the other sponsor, said the original sponsors promised not to bring a late substitute. He still backed the delay as a chance for "additional bridge building."

Testimony split sharply over the substitute. Several Rogers Park and Turnagain residents backed it for its lower heights, smaller lot coverage and seismic exclusions. A Spenard architect said a 30-foot limit still fits three stories. Supporters of the original version said the substitute would block building in single-family areas. One Airport Heights resident said its 3,500-square-foot minimum lot size means a standard 6,000-square-foot R-1 lot cannot be split in two. The president of a homebuilders group said uncertainty over updated seismic maps would freeze zone 3 lots as well.

The overlay, introduced in June, refines the 2025 Transit Supportive Development Overlay.

Brawley said the body may reopen public testimony if the ordinance changes in a material way. Assembly counsel said significant changes can come through amendments or a substitute without reopening the hearing, which is likely required only when the ordinance's basic character changes. The work session date has not been set.