Anchorage developer says fire lanes cost his 58-unit project 15 homes

Anchorage wants 10,000 new homes in ten years. At one South Anchorage project, 7,520 square feet went to fire lanes, which the developer says is enough room for 15 more homes.

Shaun Debenham's Raspberry Townhomes is a $20 million build, 58 units on 2.25 acres. He is not maxing out the lot. His buildings cover 30 percent of it, where the zoning allows 40. The pavement is what takes the rest.

The drive aisles run 44 feet and 38 feet, so a fire truck can get in and turn around. A normal residential driveway is 25 feet.

"Why is a fire truck dictating housing policy in Anchorage, Alaska?" Debenham asked Thursday at a Commonwealth North housing forum. Permitting took him nine months. He wants the municipality to hire out plan review and inspections rather than doing them in house.

No fire official was on the panel to answer him. Fire access standards exist so that an engine can reach a building and crews can work around it, and they are written into the international codes the city has adopted.

Bob Doehl, the municipality's community and economic development director, described changes already made and coming. A rezone now costs $200, which he called "much easier than what was previously a more long drawn-out process." The city has adopted more appendices of the international code. And a pending proposal would let the planning director sign off on minor variances instead of sending them to a commission that takes three to four months.

The permitting software is its own problem. Doehl said the current system "was an over-customized system that they continued to over-customize after they brought it online in 2005." A replacement arrives in the first quarter of 2027.

Some rules are only paused. Tyler Robinson of Cook Inlet Housing Authority noted that the suspended design standards for multifamily and townhouse construction come back Jan. 31, 2028, unless the Assembly acts. "So right now it's paused," he said. "It could come back in 2028."

Organizers put the stakes in one figure. Alaska has lost more than 34,000 working-age adults to out-migration since 2017.