Anchorage Assembly chambers. (Erik Hill / ADN archive) Anchorage Assembly members are proposing Anchorage Ordinance 2024-45 as a way to weaponize rezoning so they can bulldoze through the Comprehensive Plan and Land Use Plan, ignore existing neighborhood and district plans, ignore Title 21 approval criteria, eliminate direct notification of property owners, eliminate neighborhood safety and design standards, and fast-track the timeline for rezonings — thereby quashing meaningful public participation and input. AO 45 paves the way for the Assembly to take over land use planning and zoning functions that in the past were the domain of the administration — Planning Department — and property owners, using a transparent process that assured public involvement.
This is the first time any Anchorage Assembly has tried to act as the “sponsor” of a rezoning proposal — with the HOME Initiative, AO 2023-087. Through AO 45, they can bypass Planning and Zoning Commission involvement, and shorten the current 21-day notice for Title 21 text amendments to only seven days’ notice, which would make informed public input nearly impossible. It also would hamstring community councils’ ability to inform their neighborhoods and to respond.
What the Assembly is doing erodes public trust. My single largest investment is in my home, and the Assembly’s zoning decisions — especially when they minimize public participation and eliminate direct notification — have a large financial an.
