Anchorage Assembly to read Eagle River rezone ordinance Tuesday

Rezone would strip 1985-era limits on Farm Avenue parcels

Three parcels on Farm Avenue in Eagle River would shed a set of decades-old development restrictions under an ordinance the Anchorage Assembly is scheduled to read Tuesday.

The measure would rezone 1.63 acres at 12221, 16527 and 16535 Farm Avenue from residential office with special limitations to multifamily residential. Property owners Shane and Amber Thom requested the change.

The existing residential office district already allows multifamily housing. The special limitations imposed in 1985 already cap residential density at the same level as the proposed multifamily district, which permits gross densities up to 30 dwelling units per acre.

What the rezone would erase are the other limits. Those include a 35-foot building height cap, a required public hearing site plan review before development, buffer landscaping along the north property line, and a prohibition on some commercial uses.

Planning Department staff found the limits are no longer purposeful under current Title 21. Staff also found the site matches the Chugiak-Eagle River Comprehensive Plan Update designation of 16 to 35 dwelling units per acre.

Commission recommended approval without opposition

The Planning and Zoning Commission recommended approval unanimously on June 8. The Planning Department mailed 322 public hearing notices on May 14 and received no public comments.

Staff also provided notice to the Eagle River Community Council and the Chugiak-Eagle River Advisory Board. Those bodies review land-use proposals in the area and have become the main forums for community response to Eagle River rezonings, weighing effects on neighborhood character, property rights and future land use.

At the commission's hearing, Commissioner Jeff Raun said, "we did not hear any public testimony in opposition to the proposed Action tonight."

The Anchorage Water and Wastewater Utility said sewer serves all three lots. Water reaches only one of them without a main line extension.