Anchorage Assembly sets Dec. 15 hearing on Chugach Electric heavy-industrial rezone

The Anchorage Assembly will take public testimony Tuesday, Dec. 15, on an ordinance that would rezone 9.15 acres of Chugach Electric Association land near Post Road from B-3 general business to I-2 heavy industrial, according to a hearing notice.

Chugach Electric asked the city for the change. The five parcels lie in the Post Road Tracts and East Addition subdivisions, between East 3rd and East 4th avenues, from Ingra Street to Post Road. The Planning Department calls the site Chugach Electric's North Campus.

The department's staff analysis says the land has been used as an industrial site, with heavy equipment parking, warehouses and offices, and the rezone would match the zoning to that use. Staff found the request meets all nine approval criteria in city code. Reviewing agencies, including the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities and the city's traffic engineers, did not object.

The Planning and Zoning Commission held a hearing Aug. 3 and recommended approval. The Planning Department said it received no comments in opposition. The site is in the Downtown Community Council area, and that council did not comment, according to the staff packet.

The rezone depends on a companion ordinance, also set for a Dec. 15 hearing. According to an Assembly memorandum, it would change the land's designation in the Anchorage 2040 Land Use Plan from Light Industrial/Commercial to General Industrial and remove a Greenway-Supported Development marking. The commission unanimously recommended that change Aug. 3. Planning staff say the greenway marking identifies where new development will include natural open space, creek corridors and pedestrian routes. The administration estimates the plan change will cost local government less than $30,000 and says it has no private-sector economic effects.

The hearing begins at 6 pm in the Assembly Chambers at the Z.J. Loussac Library, 3600 Denali St. Anyone may speak in person without signing up. Written or phone testimony requires the city's Public Testimony Form by 5 pm Monday, Dec. 14.

The Assembly makes the final decision. If it passes, the rezone takes effect immediately.