Anchorage 12-member elected legislative body, meeting weekly in the Loussac Library chambers. Passes ordinances, approves the municipal budget, and confirms mayoral appointments.
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Anchorage Assembly to weigh extending mixed-use housing tax break to rental units
Midtown Assembly member Erin Baldwin Day has proposed letting Anchorage commercial property owners who add four or more rental units qualify for a city property tax break. Her substitute to Mayor Suzanne LaFrance's mixed-use housing ordinance goes before the Anchorage Assembly at a reopened public hearing Tuesday, Nov. 17.
LaFrance introduced the ordinance in June as part of her 10,000 Homes in 10 Years plan. As first written, it offered a 10-year tax break only for units sold to owner-occupants, such as condominiums above office or retail space. A mayor's office memo said the goal was to add housing and revitalize aging commercial buildings from the 1970s and 1980s, and that the city's existing multifamily tax incentive excludes owner-occupied units.
Baldwin Day's version, which lists her and LaFrance as sponsors, opens a path for owners who add units "for purposes of renting the units (rather than selling them, as the original and S versions currently provide)," she wrote in her memo to the Assembly.
It does that by changing the existing multifamily incentive, which requires at least eight new units. The amended text would also allow four new units in a mixed-use property, with no more than one unit for owner-occupancy.
The rest of the ordinance keeps the mayor's plan: a 10-year break on the residential portion of new or rehabilitated mixed-use buildings with at least four new units sold at or below the city's average assessed single-family home value. The mayor's office put that value at $496,746. Short-term rentals of less than 30 days would not qualify. Applications would close Aug. 31, 2031, and service areas with elected boards could opt out within 60 days.
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Latest
Week of Nov 9
Anchorage Assembly weighs shifting $300,000 of Girdwood money to housing plan and parks
Anchorage Assembly takes up a resolution Nov. 17 to shift $300,000 from Girdwood's budget into housing planning and parks projects.
by Walter AlaskaNews17h ago2 min read
Anchorage mayor asks Assembly to accept $610,711 state grant for AnchorRIDES senior trips
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by Walter AlaskaNews17h ago2 min read
Anchorage plans to use landfill gas to evaporate the liquid that seeps from its trash
Anchorage wants to burn gas from its rotting trash to evaporate the liquid that seeps out of it. The Assembly is asked to pay $98,010 for design advice.
by Walter AlaskaNews1d ago3 min read
Anchorage Assembly members push back on draft social media rules
Read literally, draft rules would bar Anchorage Assembly members from touting their records on campaign pages. Members balked. The attorney: "Not the intent."
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Anchorage Assembly chair readies a plan to replace Zac Johnson if his ticket wins
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by Walter AlaskaNews1d ago3 min read
Mayor seeks $1.5 million from APD's technology levy without naming what it would buy
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by Walter AlaskaNews2d ago2 min read
Anchorage's 2052 transportation plan calls for a Fairview Bypass and more frequent buses
Anchorage's 2052 transportation plan calls for a Fairview Bypass, buses every 30 minutes and a rebuilt Muldoon. The Assembly weighs in starting Nov. 17.
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LaFrance asks Assembly to confirm Leslie Vines for another Women's Commission term
LaFrance wants Leslie Vines on Anchorage's Women's Commission for three more years. Her attendance record shows two unexcused absences this year.
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Anchorage Assembly to take up Transgender Day of Remembrance resolution Nov. 17
The Anchorage Assembly takes up a resolution Nov. 17 recognizing Transgender Day of Remembrance. Nine members and the mayor sponsor it. Last year's passed 9-3.
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Anchorage Assembly to consider awareness month for families of homicide victims
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Anchorage Assembly sets Dec. 15 hearing on Chugach Electric heavy-industrial rezone
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Week of Nov 2
Anchorage Assembly chair would cut crime victim grants to shift pre-K to alcohol tax
Anchorage's Assembly chair wants to move half of pre-K back onto the alcohol tax, paying for it by cutting crime victim grants. Vote is Nov. 17.
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Anchorage proposal would replace yearly ambulance bonds with a $3.345 million levy
Anchorage has borrowed to buy ambulances for at least a decade. The mayor and an Eagle River Assembly member want voters to OK a $3.3M levy instead.
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Anchorage sets Dec. 1 hearings on rezones for 44 townhomes and a Chugach utility yard
Anchorage set Dec. 1 hearings on rezoning 44 townhomes that sit on land zoned for shops and Chugach Electric's longtime utility yard to heavy industrial.
by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago2 min read
Assembly shelves salary commission pick after questions over his firm's city contract
Anchorage's mayor picked a consultant for the panel that sets officials' pay. Then his firm's $86,899 city contract came up, and the Assembly shelved the pick.
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Coming up
Anchorage Assembly 2027 Budget Hearing Closing and Vote
Hearing
Anchorage FY27 Budget and CASA Capital Improvement Plan Adoption
Meeting
Anchorage Assembly: State Legislative Program Vote
Meeting
Anchorage Assembly 2027 Budget Final Action
Meeting
Anchorage Assembly School Budget Adoption
Meeting
About Anchorage Assembly
Photo: The Alaska Landmine via Wikimedia Commons · Photo source · CC BY 2.0
muni.org ↗Anchorage, AK, USA
The Anchorage Assembly is the elected legislative body of the Municipality of Anchorage. It meets in the Loussac Library chambers, passes ordinances and resolutions, approves the municipal budget and confirms the mayor's appointments, with members elected to represent districts.
The Assembly votes on contracts and the spending of state and federal money, liquor license renewals and protests, rezones, land sales and leases, and rules for candidates who run for city office. Public safety questions also come before it, such as police surveillance rules, winter shelter beds and penalties for repeat public intoxication.
It works alongside municipal departments such as the Anchorage Police Department and the Anchorage Fire Department, and boards such as the Planning and Zoning Commission and the Platting Board. The Anchorage School Board brings its own requests to the Assembly as well.
More from Anchorage Assembly
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Week of Oct 26
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Anchorage police would get $113,318 to target distracted drivers on high-crash roads
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Anchorage Assembly returns Wednesday to unfinished police surveillance rules
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Perez-Verdia proposes a police committee he'd chair as surveillance rules return
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Muldoon pot shop's renewal file holds state citations and a glass allegation
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Girdwood's new park pavilion could be named for longtime resident John Trautner
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Assembly to vote on $12,200 more for Loussac theater's sound and video upgrade
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Anchorage Assembly to weigh $587,000 contract for Creekside Park paths and playground
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Anchorage Assembly members propose mandatory jail for repeat public intoxication
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