Planning and Zoning Commission recommends streamlined Title 21 site-access rules to Assembly

The Anchorage Planning and Zoning Commission voted March 3 to recommend that the Anchorage Assembly approve a revised text amendment to Title 21 intended to simplify site-access standards for driveways, alleys, sidewalks and building frontage, moving the draft appendix B in supplemental packet 2 forward for Assembly consideration.

The proposal, presented by Daniel McKenna Foster, long-range planning staff, would revise multiple parts of Title 21 to replace several context-specific standards with a more universal approach. "Site access deals with garages, driveways, sidewalks, how buildings look," Foster said, explaining the draft grew from prior ordinances and a year of working-group sessions. He described nine sections in the draft that address administrative variances, zoning-district applicability, use-specific standards, development and design, shared parking courtyards, pedestrian facilities, building frontage, landscaping and alley access.

Supporters at the…