Zoning

Haines Assembly may adopt development rules the planning commission asked to see again

Haines' Assembly may adopt planned-development rules Tuesday. The Planning Commission asked in March to see the final draft; its records show no such review.

by Walter AlaskaNews2w ago2 min read

Company says Skagway's old Starlite Room isn't historic and asks to move it

A Skagway business says the old Starlite Room, built around 2000, isn't historic and wants it out of the historic district. The commission weighs in Monday.

by Walter AlaskaNews2w ago2 min read

Ketchikan planners to rehear parking variance for KIC's planned shelter after notice error

Ketchikan planners will rehear KIC's request to build a four-story shelter with one parking space instead of 24, after some neighbors weren't mailed notice.

by Walter AlaskaNews2w ago2 min read

Sitka planners recommend banning data centers in every zone, not by permit

Sitka's planners want data centers banned in every zone, not allowed by permit. Most people who testified agreed. Now it's up to the Assembly.

by Walter AlaskaNews2w ago3 min read

Follows: Sitka Planning Commission takes testimony on requiring permits for data centers

Kenai nonprofit seeks permit to open a therapeutic daycare on Beaver Loop Road

A Kenai nonprofit wants to turn an empty former group home into a daycare for up to 20 kids, including kids with disabilities. The city takes it up Wednesday.

by Walter AlaskaNews2w ago2 min read

Alaska Supreme Court upholds borough's denial of Anchor Point gravel pit permit

The Alaska Supreme Court upheld the denial of an Anchor Point gravel pit after an eight-year fight, saying the owner's must-approve reading defies common sense.

by Bill AlaskaNews3w ago2 min read

Geist Road clinic seeks permit to expand and approval for a lot it already built

After its rezone deadlocked planners, a Geist Road orthopedic clinic seeks a permit to expand. Its new parking lot got built before it got permitted.

by Maggie AlaskaNews3w ago2 min read

Fairbanks Assembly picks developers' riverbank overlay at planned Chena RV park

Fairbanks rezoned a Chena riverbank strip at a planned RV park, picking the developers' looser overlay over the stricter one its own riverfront panel wanted.

by Maggie AlaskaNews3w ago3 min read

Sitka Planning Commission approves merging three Halibut Point Road lots into one

Sitka merged three Halibut Point Road lots into one for a single new house. Its own planning director said that runs against the push for denser housing.

by Alaska News3w ago2 min readFrom Oct 7

Juneau committee to discuss capping garages and sheds at the size of the main home

Juneau may tell your shop it can't outgrow your house. A land-use code committee talks size caps on garages and sheds, plus RV living, Wednesday.

by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago2 min read

Seward planning commission approves fourplex on Phoenix Road with conditions

Seward's planning commission approved a 4-unit fourplex on Phoenix Road for developer Phil Zimmerman, with parking, trash and landscaping conditions.

by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago2 min read

Seward planning commission backs letting 3- to 5-unit housing skip conditional use permits

Seward's planning commission voted 5-0 to let 3 to 5 unit housing skip conditional use permits if builders meet set rules. The City Council still must approve the change.

by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago2 min read

Anchorage commissioner moves to approve 8-foot Girdwood fence on Hightower Road

Anchorage zoning commissioner moved to approve an 8 foot fence, double the usual limit, on a Girdwood property on Hightower Road.

by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago2 min read

Fake invoices posing as the Mat-Su Borough are targeting people who apply for permits

Fake invoices made to look like they came from the Mat-Su Borough are hitting people who apply for land use permits. One shop got 10 in nine days.

by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago2 min read

Cook Inlet Housing asks Anchorage to lift 2001 rules on its Creekside land

Cook Inlet Housing wants Anchorage to scrap 2001 rules on its Creekside land at Muldoon and DeBarr, calling them prescriptive and time-consuming.

by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago2 min read

Anchorage Assembly to consider study of building rules in high-hazard earthquake zones

Anchorage's earthquake hazard maps trace back to 1979. New ones are due this year, and the Assembly may ask city staff what they should mean for building rules.

by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago3 min read

Sitka Planning Commission takes testimony on requiring permits for data centers

Sitka's zoning code covers tanneries and log storage but says nothing about data centers. A city proposal would require a permit for one in five districts.

by Melinda Communities.News3w ago3 min read

Sitka proposes moving six cemeteries into its restrictive cemetery zoning district

Sitka wants six cemeteries, including the national cemetery and the Russian Orthodox one, zoned strictly for cemetery uses. Planners take testimony Wednesday.

by Melinda Communities.News3w ago2 min read

Mat-Su Platting Board approves six-lot subdivision near Engstrom Road

Six new lots near Engstrom Road got the OK. Neighbors worry about the Bogard-Engstrom intersection; the road meant to ease it is picked but not funded.

by Walter AlaskaNews4w ago2 min read

Kenai commission rejects family RV campground permit on Tundra Rose Lane, 4-1

Kenai's planning commission voted 4-1 to deny Nicole and David Smith a permit for a family RV park on Tundra Rose Lane, citing traffic and neighborhood character concerns.

by Walter AlaskaNews4w ago2 min readFrom Sep 23

Anchorage planners back an 8-foot Girdwood fence near the Holtan Hills entrance

A Girdwood homeowner wants an 8-foot fence where code allows 4, citing Holtan Hills construction traffic. City planners say yes. A neighbor worries about moose.

by Maggie AlaskaNews4w ago2 min read

Southcentral Foundation seeks business zoning for 4.3 acres on Alaska Native Health Campus

Southcentral Foundation wants two Tudor Centre Drive lots on the Native health campus rezoned for business. It says no redevelopment is planned.

by Walter AlaskaNews4w ago2 min read

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

Kenai OKs two Airbnbs in the Woodland Subdivision. Ash Avenue neighbors of 41 years lost 3-2, and one says she'll be back to oppose every permit.

by Walter AlaskaNews4w ago2 min read

Anchorage officials want to keep private plan review rules but warn of a conflict

Nearly all new homes in Anchorage's building safety area get plan checks from private reviewers. Officials want the rules kept but warn contractors pick them.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago3 min read

Anchorage Assembly approves Tozier Tract land swap with nonbinding housing targets

Anchorage agreed to trade the Tozier Tract, land it spent decades trying to get, for four downtown parking lots. Its housing targets are only recommendations.

by Walter AlaskaNews4w ago3 min readFrom Oct 6

Follows: Anchorage proposes trading the Tozier Track to the state housing agency for downtown parking lots, with housing required

Cordova Planning Commission approves permit for rental cabin built without a permit

Cordova commissioners approved a permit for a rental cabin built without one. Owners must connect to city utilities by Nov. 2 and fix unapproved septic systems to keep the structure standing.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Seward requires wider paved streets and bans cul-de-sacs in new subdivisions

New Seward subdivisions need wider paved streets, a place to walk and buried power lines, but no cul-de-sacs. Developers pay; one critic says buyers will too.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago3 min read

Petersburg Assembly overturns denial of land division for tribe's wireless tower

Petersburg's assembly overturned the planning commission's denial of a land division Tlingit & Haida needs for a wireless tower beside the borough's fire hall.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readFrom Oct 9

Homer commission backs limiting residential short-term rentals to operators' homes

A Homer commission wants short-term rentals in residential neighborhoods limited to the operator's own home. It finalizes that advice Tuesday.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Kenai commission weighs letting a gravel operation dig into required setbacks

Kenai will decide Wednesday whether a gravel pit can dig closer to its neighbors than city rules allow. An earlier, similar variance drew an appeal.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read

Sitka Assembly returns Tuesday to ordinance easing backyard apartment rules

Sitka's Assembly is back Tuesday on backyard apartments: fewer hoops to build one, but no more on R-2 lots. Rentals stay tight, at 5.8% vacancy.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Houston passes two-year pause on data centers as state weighs AIDEA land transfer

Houston's City Council paused data center permits for two years while the state weighs giving 20,000 acres just north of the city to AIDEA for free.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Bethel council holds hearing Tuesday on leasing six city lots to Alaska Directional

Bethel City Council holds a public hearing Tuesday on leasing six city lots to a Palmer fiber contractor for $16,800 a month without taking competitive bids.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Anchorage Assembly postpones missing middle housing vote to Nov. 4

Anchorage Assembly delayed a vote on Missing Middle Housing rules to Nov. 4 to review amendments that would allow duplexes and triplexes on about 28,000 residential parcels across the city.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Kenai council waives road requirement quoted at $63,000

Kenai City Council waived a $63,000 road-building requirement for a property owner whose project started before the city's new road standard took effect.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Soldotna commissioner asks about council rezoning vote that city records don't show

A Soldotna planning commissioner asked about a council rezoning vote he'd heard about. There wasn't one, but there is a staff plan to rezone Robin Place.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Juneau Planning Commission to consider 10-year Lemon Creek gravel permit extension

Secon wants 10 more years of digging gravel from Lemon Creek, plus two more parcels. Juneau's Planning Commission takes it up Tuesday, Oct. 13.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read

Anchorage ordinance would raise transit-corridor density target from 8 to 36 homes per acre

An Assembly proposal would raise the housing density target along Anchorage transit corridors from 8 homes per acre to 36. Testimony is Tuesday.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Follows: Anchorage schedules Oct. 6 hearing on transit-corridor plan

Sitka panel weighs splitting Halibut Point Road lot in two

One Sitka lot, two futures: a retirement home on one side, a duplex with two long-term rentals on the other, if the Planning Commission OKs the split.

by Melinda Communities.News1mo ago1 min read

January count finds downtown Anchorage street parking peaked at about a third full

Can't find parking downtown? A city count found Anchorage's downtown street parking only about a third full at its busiest, at least on two winter weekdays.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read