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Anchorage Council members are proposing Anchorage Ordinance 2024-45 as a way to weaponize rezoning to ram through comprehensive and land use plans, ignore existing neighborhood and district plans, ignore Title 21 approval standards, eliminate direct notice to property owners, eliminate neighborhood safety and design standards, and expedite the rezoning timeline, thereby stifling meaningful public participation and input.
AO 45 paves the way for the council to take over land use planning and zoning functions that were previously the domain of the administration (Planning Department) and property owners, using a transparent process that ensures public involvement.
This is the first time the Anchorage Council has attempted to act as a “sponsor” for a rezoning proposal through the HOME Initiative (AO 2023-087).
Through AO 45, they can avoid the involvement of the Planning and Zoning Commission and reduce the current 21-day notice period for amending the text of Title 21 to just 7 days. This makes informed public comment nearly impossible. It also limits the ability of community councils to inform and respond to their neighbors. What they are doing is eroding public trust.
My largest investment is my home, and Council’s zoning decisions have significant financial and legal impacts on my property, especially when they minimize resident participation and eliminate direct notification. I have a duty to protect my property and my neighborhood, and those protections are in the existing Comprehensive Plan and the 2040 Land Use Plan that Council members are trying to destroy.
AO 45 avoids the use of the word “rezoning” and instead substitutes the term “conforming amendment,” a subtle ploy designed to eliminate the legal process currently in place for area-wide rezonings, further eroding public trust.
In addition to bypassing the Planning and Zoning Commission, AO 45 results in zero or near zero review by city planning staff. The Planning and Zoning Commission and the planning staff share the responsibility of developing a comprehensive plan with public participation through their efforts. The Council has the final authority, but not the “sole authority” as inserted in the first “but fore” of AO 45. In fact, state and city law give the Council the final authority in collaboration and cooperation with professional planners and the public.
AO 45 has many destructive powers; I have only touched on a few. Council members are wielding AO 45 like a sledgehammer to destroy comprehensive plans and land use plans, abandoning targeted rezoning and instead building high-density housing in a random manner. Planning staff analysis shows that targeted zoning, rather than area-wide zoning, is more effective at achieving efficient use of infrastructure and other goals for efficiency and the public interest.
AO 45 is perhaps the greatest erosion of public trust. It is a power grab that allows the council to make short-term, unilateral decisions while effectively shutting out planning staff, the Planning and Zoning Commission, and the public.
Council members are promoting area-wide rezoning as a necessary means to create more housing, without any evidence to support it or justification for destroying Comprehensive Plan goals that include other desirable features such as efficient use of infrastructure, reduced reliance on driving, design standards for safety, public health and aesthetics, neighborhood commercial centers in planned locations, and neighborhoods with distinctive character and harmony with the natural environment.
Congress should stop fast-tracking Measure 45 as if it were an emergency solution to soaring home prices. It isn’t.
A new mayor will be in office and will do everything in his power to restore public trust in city governance, but he cannot repair the loss of public trust in the council. Only the public can do that by respecting public voices, honoring the public process, and keeping the redistricting process the inclusive and thoughtful process it has been until last year.
Sharon Stockard He is an Anchorage homeowner and has lived in the city for 30 years.
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