Assembly takes up industrial rezone for an equipment yard on Laurel Acres wetland lot

A company that wants to build an equipment storage yard on a vacant Laurel Acres lot is asking the Anchorage Assembly to rezone it from single-family residential to heavy industrial, though a city planner says the land is almost entirely wetlands.

The Assembly is scheduled to introduce the ordinance Nov. 4 and hold a public hearing Dec. 1. The 3.8-acre lot sits south of West 92nd Avenue and east of Minnesota Drive. Land zoned heavy industrial borders it on the east and south, with mixed residential zoning to the north, according to the staff analysis, and the city's 2040 land use plan calls for industrial use there.

The owner, Laona LLC, wrote that it has maxed out its current location and would hire local workers at the new yard. It said the expected rezone "weighed heavily" on its decision to buy the lot.

"According to the MOA Wetlands Maps, the lot is almost entirely composed of Class B wetlands, which typically prohibit development or allow only very limited development," Private Development Manager Paul LaFrance wrote in a July memo. His section couldn't object because the rezone fits the city's plan, he wrote, but "open space zoning seems more appropriate."

The Planning Department recommended approval with a note that any development will need a municipal wetlands permit, and the Planning and Zoning Commission, which took up the rezone Aug. 3, did the same. The city mailed 591 notices and got no public comments.

The city owns more than 100 lots in Laurel Acres, mostly Class B wetlands. In July, the Assembly considered buying two more to generate credits that offset wetland damage from development elsewhere.