Two Fairbanks rezones could take 32 lots to 99 dwelling units total

The Fairbanks North Star Borough is being asked to upzone two residential corridors within five days of each other. Together the requests would take 32 lots from the 34 dwelling units standing on them now to as many as 99.

On Farewell Avenue, 19 lots covering about four acres in Hamilton Acres would go from single-family to multiple-family residential. Owners of 85 percent of the property signed the petition. The 18 units there now could become 48 if every residential lot were built to four. Planning staff recommend approval, the commission has not voted, and it takes testimony Sept. 22.

On Fairbanks Street, 13 lots on 2.14 acres between Iris Lane and Dunlap Avenue would go from two-family to multiple-family. Owners of nine of the thirteen signed. Zoning there already allows 25 units and the change would allow 51. The commission recommended approval 10-0 and the Assembly takes it up Sept. 17.

Both figures are ceilings rather than proposals. Staff called 51 a maximum on a street that is nearly built out, with one vacant lot on it. On Farewell, the borough's transportation planner estimates the existing 18 units generate about 134 one-way trips a day, roughly doubling to 279 at full buildout. The City of Fairbanks, which maintains those streets and alleys, told staff that "Farewell Avenue can absorb the impacts of it" and that parking can be handled through on-site maneuvering and alley access.

One vacant building is driving the Fairbanks Street request. A former bed and breakfast owned by the Obrist Family Trust has more than nine guestrooms, which a two-family zone does not permit, and a conditional use application was denied. A prospective buyer wants to run it as a roominghouse, allowed in the multiple-family zone with a permit. The applicants say the owner cannot afford to remodel it into a compliant use and it would sit vacant and unsellable otherwise.

The objections in both places are about what replaces what. Ann Spannagel told planners she fears existing buildings on Farewell will be torn down for a large apartment complex and that the sewer will need upgrading. "If they put an apartment complex there I am gone," she said, though she is comfortable with multifamily use inside the existing lot lines. On Fairbanks Street, Blake Moore said he would rather see the bed and breakfast remodeled into an owner-occupied home.

Written comment on the Farewell Avenue request goes to [email protected] before the Sept. 22 hearing.