Anchorage Assembly considers land use plan change for Southcentral Foundation parcels

The Anchorage Assembly is weighing a proposed amendment to the Anchorage 2040 Land Use Plan that could open a path for Southcentral Foundation to later seek removal of building restrictions imposed in 1985 on its Century Village properties at Tudor Road and Patterson Street.

The Proposal

The proposal would redesignate two SCF parcels, Lot 1G and Lot 2 of the Century Village #3 Subdivision, from 'Neighborhood Center' to 'Main Street Corridor' in the 2040 Land Use Plan. The Planning Department is clear that this is not itself a zoning change and would not immediately alter what is permitted on the site. Any removal of the existing special limitation, or any increase in allowed building height, would require separate later action.

Under the current special limitation from AO No. 1985-104, the SCF properties are restricted to a 25-foot height cap and must go through a public hearing before any expansion of existing structures or new external construction. The Planning Department notes that under the existing 'Neighborhood Center' designation, it could not support a rezone to standard B-3 zoning. A redesignation to 'Main Street Corridor' would allow SCF to pursue removal of the special limitation. If a subsequent rezone to B-3 were approved through the required process, the B-3 district currently allows a maximum height of 60 feet. That figure has appeared in public comments and Planning Department responses to those comments, not as an immediate effect of this proposal.

The Planning Department also recommends removing a Chugach Electric substation parcel from the ordinance. That parcel, Lot 1A1 of the Century Village Subdivision (parcel ID 00720186000), was included because of a mapping error. The department incorrectly listed it as having a 'Neighborhood Center' designation when it is actually designated 'Compact Mixed Residential Medium' in the existing 2040 Land Use Plan. The department recommends it be struck from the ordinance and retain its current designation, or be redesignated to 'Community Facility or Institution.'

The Planning and Zoning Commission recommended approval of the ordinance in PZC Resolution No. 2026-017. The Planning Department supports the redesignation, arguing that the current 'Neighborhood Center' designation does not fit the site's built form. The commercial area predates the surrounding residential development and has no direct physical pedestrian access to the residential area behind it, unlike the connected street grid envisioned for a neighborhood center.

The complexity of the existing restrictions came into focus in 2024, when the special limitation required SCF to go through a site plan review process simply to build a greenhouse. SCF's representative told the Planning and Zoning Commission at the August 5, 2024 meeting: "the rezone process is almost a year, and there are costs associated with that too, and there are benefits, but: the goal was, they started permitting the greenhouse last fall so that it could be used this year. And now here we are in the fall, and we've missed another year having to go through this process to do it. And it was a little frustrating, honestly."