Anchorage legalized triplexes. Now it wants to drop their landscaping requirement

Anchorage shrank its minimum lot sizes in 2023 to make triplexes easier to build. In the years since, the city has not seen more than five of them go up in a single year, according to the Sightline Institute, a housing research group that advocates for denser development.

Now the city wants to take away one more requirement. Under an ordinance the Assembly reads Tuesday, lots built with four units or fewer would no longer have to install a planted buffer along their property lines. Duplexes and single-family homes are already exempt. Triplexes and fourplexes are not, which means a small building can trigger landscaping costs that the same lot would avoid with one fewer unit.

That is the administration's argument for the change. City planner Luke Bertram told the Planning and Zoning Commission in July it "cuts down on required landscaping design and installation costs." The commission recommended approval.

Neighborhood groups have made the opposite case. The Rabbit Creek Community Council, writing on infill standards in 2023, urged the city to keep the landscaping requirement for three- and four-unit buildings, saying the plantings "help hide increased density by providing a more appealing outside appearance."

Three- and four-unit lots would still have to meet the code's minimum tree requirement.

The ordinance is one of a series of code changes under Mayor Suzanne LaFrance's 10,000 Homes in Ten Years strategy, which targets 1,000 units built or rehabilitated a year. Census permit records show Anchorage authorized 341 new residential structures in 2024 and 218 in 2025. Those figures count structures rather than units, so a fourplex counts once and the unit total runs higher. The strategy is two years old, and the code changes meant to support it are still moving through the Assembly.

The public hearing, where residents can testify, is Oct. 6.