Anchorage zoning board approves deck variance despite staff concerns

The Anchorage Zoning Board of Examiners and Appeals voted 9-0 Thursday to let a deck stay 3 feet from a property line instead of the required 5 feet in an R-2A residential district.

The board granted the variance to James Fowler and Cynthia Kakla despite a staff recommendation for denial. Planning staff found that one of eight required standards was only partially met because the current owners rebuilt a deteriorating deck in the same footprint as a previous owner's noncompliant structure.

The variance allows the deck to encroach 2 feet into the required 5-foot side setback. The property is a corner lot with limited backyard space, about 13 feet between the house and the property line, because the house sits at the top of a slight slope.

Fowler purchased the property in 2018 and rebuilt the deck in 2019 in the same location as the original deck, which was 3 feet from the property line. He discovered the encroachment when a contractor applied to close a permit for a carport.

"The idea that if I never rebuilt the deck, it would not be a problem, but since I rebuilt the deck, it is a problem," Fowler said.

Planning staff found Standard C, which requires that hardship not be self-imposed, only partially met. "The previous property owner built a noncompliant deck, and the current owner replaced that dilapidated deck in the original location, which was 3 feet from the property line, so the hardship is thus partially not self-imposed," a planning department staff member said.

Board members questioned whether penalizing a homeowner for improving a safety hazard made sense. One board member asked whether it would be true that if the owners had left the dilapidated deck, the standard would have been met, but because they rebuilt it and made it safer, it was only partially met. Staff confirmed that was the planning department's view.

The planning department mailed 212 public hearing notices on February 17, 2026. The board received no objections from neighbors. Three public comments supported the variance. The Taku Campbell and Sand Lake community councils did not provide comments. The adjacent property has mature trees, landscaping and a shed that buffer the deck from view.

"All the reviewing agencies had no objections, and the 3 community comments were all in support, and I will be supporting this," one board member said.

Another board member said the board should find Standard C fully met. "By saying that it is not met because this was the action of a previous owner removes, incorrectly places the responsibility on the prior, on the current owners," the board member said.

The variance is subject to two conditions listed on pages 4 and 5 of the staff report. Fowler had previously received a variance in March for a hot tub on the same property.