Anchorage Assembly to take up heavy industrial rezone of Laurel Acres wetland lot

The Anchorage Assembly is scheduled to introduce an ordinance Wednesday, Nov. 4, that would rezone a vacant 3.8-acre Laurel Acres lot from single-family residential to heavy industrial. A public hearing, when residents can testify before the Assembly decides, is set for Tuesday, Dec. 1.

Owner Laona, LLC wants the lot for an equipment storage yard. The company wrote that it has maxed out its current location and that the new yard would let it expand and hire local employees. The lot sits south of West 92nd Avenue and east of Minnesota Drive, in the Bayshore/Klatt Community Council area.

The heavy industrial district is meant for uses such as manufacturing, warehousing, equipment and materials storage, vehicle repair, freight terminals and salvage, according to the city code quoted in the staff analysis packet.

State and municipal reviewers did not object, but two municipal planners wrote about the wetlands on the lot.

"According to the MOA Wetlands Maps, the lot is almost entirely composed of Class B wetlands, which typically prohibit development or allow only very limited development," Private Development Manager Paul LaFrance wrote in a July 7 memo. He said his section could not object because the rezone complies with the Comprehensive Plan, but that "open space zoning seems more appropriate than I-2 for this area."

Long Range Planning Manager Daniel McKenna-Foster wrote that the Anchorage 2040 Land Use Plan designates the lot General Industrial and marked it for an eventual rezone. Wetlands exist on the property and any development will require a permit, he wrote. Laona said the expected rezoning weighed heavily on its decision to buy the lot.

The Planning Department recommended approval, with an advisory note that any development will need a municipal wetlands permit. The Planning and Zoning Commission recommended approval Aug. 3. The department mailed 591 hearing notices and received no public comments.

The municipality owns more than 100 parcels in the subdivision, which the Anchorage Wetlands Management Plan classifies mostly as Class B wetlands, according to Heritage Land Bank Advisory Commission Resolution 2026-03. In July the Assembly took up buying two more wetland lots in the subdivision to generate credits that offset wetland damage from development elsewhere, Alaska News reported July 3.