Planning staff recommend code change to allow mobile dwelling units across residential zones

Daniel Kenna Foster, long‑range planning manager in the planning department, briefed the Anchorage Assembly work session on proposed zoning changes in PCC case 2025‑45 intended to allow "mobile dwelling units" as a permitted housing type across residential zones.

The planning department said a consultant report found new manufactured housing communities are largely infeasible in Anchorage because infrastructure, landscaping and other requirements make new parks costly; in some cases the cost of a new manufactured‑housing park would approximate the cost of a townhouse. Foster said the proposed change replaces multiple manufactured‑home definitions with a single “mobile dwelling unit” category and would allow such units if the building official certifies them for safe occupancy.

The proposal also changes review of mobile dwelling communities from conditional use to site plan review and would permit mobile dwelling communities and certain transitional living facilities in PLI (public lands and institutional) zones to reduce zoning barriers for potential sites. Foster showed examples and said the planning and zoning commission recommended approval at its most recent meeting; the case will go to the assembly in the coming weeks.

Foster emphasized that the changes do not override homeowners association rules, and that existing dimensional standards (setbacks, lot coverage, height) would still apply; the amendments focus on allowable uses rather than on altering zone bulk or density standards. The planning department advised stakeholders to review the published PCC materials and said staff will be available to answer questions as the case proceeds to the assembly.