Zoning

Wasilla planners move to ask the council to repeal its ban on housing in commercial zones

Wasilla's planning commission moved to ask the City Council to undo its ban on housing in commercial zones, and some members vented about being ignored.

by Walter AlaskaNews2d ago2 min read

Neighbor appeals Mat-Su approval of a 300-person event venue at the Knik Bar

The Knik Bar got Mat-Su's OK for a 300-person lakeside event hall after planners dropped a 10 pm limit on outdoor events. A neighbor is appealing Friday.

by Walter AlaskaNews2d ago2 min read

Planning commission backs rezone to legalize Chugiak house built on industrial land

A Chugiak house built without permits in 2006 sits on industrial land. Planners backed rezoning it residential; its industrial neighbors aren't thrilled.

by Walter AlaskaNews2d ago2 min read

Mat-Su staff back two cabins 50 feet from Rainbow Lake, inside the 75-foot setback

Mat-Su planners back letting a builder put two cabins 50 feet from Rainbow Lake, inside the 75-foot setback, though the lot has a spot that meets the rule.

by Walter AlaskaNews3d ago2 min readFrom Nov 4

Fairbanks planners take up request to rezone 10 Hamilton Acres lots for duplexes

Fairbanks planners take up a request tonight to let ten Hamilton Acres lots have duplexes. Four already have them, despite single-family zoning.

by Walter AlaskaNews3d ago2 min read

Anchorage Assembly sets Dec. 15 hearing on Chugach Electric heavy-industrial rezone

The Anchorage Assembly will hear Chugach Electric's request Dec. 15 to zone its Third Avenue utility yard heavy industrial, matching decades of utility use.

by Walter AlaskaNews4d ago1 min read

Sitka weighs rezoning seven historic cemetery properties to allow only cemetery uses

Sitka's Assembly takes up rezoning seven historic cemetery properties for cemetery uses only. The VA has told the city local zoning doesn't apply to it.

by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago3 min read

Anchorage plan would let staff decide some cases that now get public hearings

Anchorage planners want staff, not public hearings, to settle some routine land-use requests. Now they've asked to push the first hearing to December.

by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago2 min read

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 AlaskaNews6d ago2 min read

Follows: Anchorage Assembly takes up rezone for 44 townhomes sitting on land zoned for shops

Juneau couple's appeal of a 185% assessment jump goes back before the city board

A Juneau couple's property nearly tripled in assessed value this year. Their appeal was set for a second hearing Thursday; no result is public yet.

by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago2 min read

Follows: Juneau assessor trims contested Glacier Highway value but says it appears undervalued

Mat-Su board approves Willow-area land split without requiring a mile-plus road

Mat-Su's Platting Board OK'd splitting 40 acres near Willow into two lots without building the 6,800-foot road borough rules would normally require.

by Maggie AlaskaNews1w ago1 min read

Follows: Willow-area owners ask Mat-Su to let them split 40 acres without building a mile-plus road

Fairbanks borough mayor proposes capping whole-home short-term rentals

Fairbanks' borough mayor wants to cap whole-home short-term rentals and charge $250 a room to register them, saying they've shrunk the housing supply.

by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago4 min read

Anchorage Assembly delays Missing Middle housing vote again, this time to Dec. 1

The Anchorage Assembly scheduled its Missing Middle housing vote for a Friday at noon, then unscheduled it. It's now Dec. 1, the second delay in four weeks.

by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago4 min read

Follows: Planners say Missing Middle overlay fits Anchorage's comprehensive plan

Anchorage commission backs rezone to replace two Ivan Drive homes with duplexes

Anchorage's planning commission backed letting a couple replace two Ivan Drive houses with duplexes. Nobody testified. The Assembly gets the last word.

by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago2 min read

Juneau planners to decide permit for Guardian Flight hangar already standing

Juneau planners take up a permit Nov. 10 for a Guardian Flight medical jet hangar that's already standing. A city note says a permit was issued by mistake.

by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago2 min read

Seward planners approve Swan Nest Inn expansion to 12-room hotel

Seward's Swan Nest Inn can grow from five rooms to 12 and become a hotel. Planners also moved the Jesse Lee orphanage cemetery a step toward the tribe.

by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago2 min read

Petersburg Assembly advances pause on some data centers, rejects a wider one

Petersburg's Assembly advanced a pause on some data centers through September 2027. A push to pause all of them, closed-loop or not, failed on a 3-3 tie.

by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago2 min read

Homer draft would limit short-term rentals in 4 zones to operators' homes

Homer's draft rule would let short-term rentals in four residential zones run only where the operator lives. Planning commissioners weigh in Wednesday.

by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago3 min read

Anchorage planners seek delays on three hearings, including Tudor interchange

Anchorage planners asked to push three Nov. 9 hearings into December. It would be the second delay for the Seward Highway-Tudor Road interchange review.

by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago1 min read

Palmer planners pick four downtown goals from a parking study instead of adopting it

Palmer planners passed on adopting a consultant's parking study and picked four goals instead, from safer walking to a 15 to 20 mph downtown speed limit.

by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago2 min read

Palmer planners deny downtown BBQ parking variance on two 3-3 ties

Palmer's planning commission split 3-3 and sank the parking variance Bear Naked BBQ needs downtown. The owner has until Wednesday to appeal.

by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago2 min readFrom Oct 15

Homer planners approve cabins and commercial buildings with stormwater plans required

Homer planners OK'd eight Lake Street cabins and two Ocean Drive buildings, with stormwater plans required. A neighbor says a planned ditch was never built.

by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago2 min read

Appeals send both Woodland Subdivision short-term rental permits to Kenai City Council

Both Woodland Subdivision short-term rental permits, approved by Kenai planners Oct. 14, face appeals heading to City Council.

by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago2 min read

Follows: Kenai planners approve two Woodland Subdivision short-term rentals, one 3-2

Anchorage overlay developers would pay full cost of water and sewer extensions, AWWU says

Anchorage's water utility says Missing Middle builders would pay for new water and sewer lines themselves, and the price can change across a street.

by Melinda Communities.News1w ago3 min read

Volland proposes a task force to streamline Anchorage permitting

Volland wants a task force of builders and others to streamline permitting. A builder says one permit took 9 months; some neighborhood groups want more review.

by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago3 min read

Anchorage Assembly leaders propose keeping multifamily design rules on hold through 2035

Anchorage Assembly leaders want to keep design rules for new apartments and townhouses on hold through 2035, more than seven years past the current end date.

by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago2 min read

Sitka planning staff recommend denying courthouse move to Sheldon Jackson campus

Sitka planning staff recommend denying the court system's plan to move the courthouse beside a playground and youth camp. The state already funded the purchase.

by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago3 min readFrom Oct 23

Planners back rezone that would let two Anchorage homes be replaced with duplexes

Planners back letting two Ivan Drive homes become duplexes. Current zoning bars duplexes on lots that small, the owners say. The commission weighs in Monday.

by Walter AlaskaNews2w ago2 min read

Juneau assessor trims contested Glacier Highway value but says it appears undervalued

Juneau's assessor trimmed a Glacier Highway property's value by $217,500 after seeing its rent roll, but says the property still appears undervalued.

by Walter AlaskaNews2w ago2 min read

Fairbanks planning staff back data center pause and urge a 40,000-square-foot threshold

Fairbanks borough planners back the mayor's pause on big data centers and want it to reach smaller ones, starting at 40,000 square feet instead of 50,000.

by Walter AlaskaNews2w ago2 min read

Follows: Fairbanks borough mayor proposes pause on large data center permits through 2027

Borough staff back letting a 1976 Fairbanks duplex keep both homes despite rezoning

Fairbanks officer decides Thursday if a 1976 Birch Lane duplex can keep both units despite now sitting in single-family zoning.

by Maggie AlaskaNews2w ago2 min read

Kenai planners approve Beaver Loop day care and give it two years to open

Kenai planners approved a therapeutic day care on Beaver Loop Road for young children, including kids with disabilities, and gave it two years to open.

by Walter AlaskaNews2w ago2 min read

Anchorage developers still build parking without a mandate, planners say

Anchorage stopped requiring parking in 2022. Developers kept building it anyway, mostly about as much as before, a city Planning Department memo says.

by Walter AlaskaNews2w ago2 min read

Anchorage Assembly vote could decide whether new housing rules reach quake-hazard zones

The Assembly votes Nov. 4 on letting more duplexes and townhomes into much of Anchorage. Open question: whether that includes the ground that slid in 1964.

by Walter AlaskaNews2w ago3 min read

Anchorage Assembly takes up rezone for 44 townhomes sitting on land zoned for shops

Forty-four Anchorage townhomes sit on land zoned for shops and offices. The Assembly takes up a fix Nov. 4. The city says no one objected, but one neighbor did.

by Walter AlaskaNews2w ago2 min read

Chugach Electric asks Anchorage to zone its Third Avenue utility yard heavy industrial

Chugach Electric wants its 60-year-old utility yard near Third and Post zoned heavy industrial, which would erase a greenway marking. The hearing is Dec. 1.

by Walter AlaskaNews2w ago2 min read

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

A company wants to put an equipment yard on a Laurel Acres lot a city planner says is almost all wetlands. The Assembly takes up the rezone Nov. 4.

by Walter AlaskaNews2w ago2 min read

Kodiak developer seeks conservation zoning for three more Cliff Point tracts

Oceanfront Kodiak wants three more Cliff Point tracts zoned for conservation, saying current zoning keeps it from selling. The Assembly decides Nov. 5.

by Walter AlaskaNews2w ago2 min read

Juneau Assembly will hear neighbors' appeal of a Mendenhall Valley hobby farm permit

Neighbors appealed a permit letting a Mendenhall Valley family keep up to 100 chickens and ducks. The Juneau Assembly will hear the case itself.

by Walter AlaskaNews2w ago2 min read

Company asks Anchorage to rezone six lots off Abbott Road for business

Arlon LLC wants six lots near Abbott Road rezoned for business, on a block Anchorage has been turning commercial just one or two lots at a time.

by Walter AlaskaNews2w ago2 min read