Anchorage Planning and Zoning Commission to weigh shop-house and self-storage ordinances

A proposed ordinance before the Anchorage Planning and Zoning Commission on July 13 would expand by-right housing options in commercial zones that already produce most of Anchorage's senior housing.

The B-3 district, designed for general commercial use along heavy-traffic corridors, has become the city's primary engine for residential construction. Roughly 63% of senior housing units and about 810 total units, or 22% of all Anchorage Bowl units built since 2014, were in B-3 or B-3SL zones. Planning staff describe the paired cases before the commission as a shift from car-centered uses toward housing and people-centered uses.

Shop-houses are residential units where an attached garage or workshop occupies more floor area than the living space. Current municipal code does not contain area restrictions for a private residential garage or carport accessory to a residence in B-3 or other commercial districts, but the shop-house design is not explicitly accommodated as a permitted use.

The proposed ordinance would add shop-houses to the table of permitted uses and, specifically for B-3, eliminate minimum lot size requirements and drop the cap on structure count per lot. The use-table changes would also permit multifamily dwellings by right in B-1A, B-1B, and B-3, and relocatable dwelling units and relocatable dwelling unit communities by right in B-1A, and reduce the minimum unit count for mixed-use buildings from two to one. The Planning Department says that change would permit a wider variety of small-scale mixed-use development across all commercial zoning districts in the Anchorage Bowl. The measure runs in parallel with a companion case that would make self-storage and large parking facilities conditional uses in B-3 rather than permitted by right.

Cook Inlet Housing Authority, which the Planning Department's staff report identifies as a leading builder in B-3 zones, supports the ordinance. Cook Inlet Housing Authority wrote expressing support for the ordinance and requesting that section 21.05.030A.1.b.ii. be removed from the ordinance. That section would have imposed residential design standards on mixed-use buildings. Staff agreed and updated the draft accordingly. The authority noted that rules elsewhere in Title 21 already regulate landscaping, driveways, alley access, height, and setbacks to ensure compatible and accessible development.

Resident Jason Norris also supported the proposal and urged raising the maximum structure height in B-3 to 75 feet, to align with building code changes allowing single egress for up to six stories.

On the companion self-storage case, engineering firm DOWL warned that requiring conditional use permits for large parking lots could add time, cost, and risk for developments relying on off-site or structured parking.