Anchorage Assembly members Kevin Cross and Meg Zaletel are proposing a dramatic simplification of the residential zoning rules that govern home building across the municipality.
show that most of Anchorage’s housing was built in the 1970s when the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System was being built, and the 1980s after the oil started flowing. Today, Anchorage has more homes that were built in the 1950s than in the 2010s.“Most of our real estate is over 40 years old in Anchorage – means we’re not even building enough to replace the older homes that are getting dilapidated,” said Anchorage Assembly member Kevin Cross.
Cross, who is a commercial real estate broker, said the current rules drive up building costs excessively, and also create perverse incentives for developers to build extra large, single-family homes and duplexes on a given piece of land, while market trends and demand are for more modest homes. Cross said zoning is an initial hurdle that may block a developer from building multiple small homes with the same overall footprint and number of bedrooms as the hypothetical megahome.
“We just need to get out of our own way,” Cross said. “Let’s simplify zoning, let’s get private development back at the table.” Cross and Zaletel are working together on a residential zoning reform ordinance. In the Anchorage bowl, it would take
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