I was a builder in Anchorage for 7 years after closing down my brewery, and I can tell you the one thing government does more than anything else that affects the look of a neighborhood is the building and land-use code. Its esoteric, yes, and it’s thick, but if you care that an old historic single-family home was torn down to build condos or an 8-plex, then the codes affect your quality of life.
Anchorage gave the Fairview Community Council the right to tell the city how we want our neighborhood to develop. The Neighborhood Plan process creates area-specific plans that act as an overlay to Title 21, the Building and Land use code. It’s a really big deal. And the Fairveiw Community Council has developed a Neighborhood Plan and submit it to the Planning Department. It’s called a “Final Draft”, but really until it’s adopted by the assembly, it’s anything but. You actually have a chance to weigh in on the code that determines how many trees you need on your lot, what kind of windows, where you can park, and whether what you do can impact your neighbors.
Part of the process requires public involvement. Honestly, I’ve been to one of these meetings in the past and they’re not well attended, which means your opinion really counts. The plan can be seen at this link.
Probably the most important part, the part which impacts building and land use code, is the “overlay zone”. This will dictate how homes will look in the future in Fairview. A real question is whether we want something prescriptive, which dictates what we can and can’t build, or a basic set of rules which determine the values of our neighborhood.
We can have anything you can envision. Your opinion matters. May 5th, 1pm at the Fairview Recreation Center.
First rule of leadership is to show up.