A few years ago when I was an Assembly member, I asked a local developer why he wasn't more active in the Title 21 process.
"I never testify at public hearings," he said. "I guess I just don't stand in lines. I usually can get my needs met with a few calls the day before a vote."
This developer wasn't trying to be cocky or hide anything, he was just telling like it is.
Welcome to the status quo of Anchorage politics.
Title 21 is the land-use code for Anchorage and it implements the 2020 Anchorage Bowl Comprehensive Plan. The code sets rules for building our city around a shared community vision. Title 21 and the 2020 plan are grounded in more than 15 years of an open public process that reflects the values, goals, and objectives of thousands of citizens from all walks of life. The Title 21 rewrite has been through five iterations. Each had extensive public review and comment.
Mayor Sullivan's 2010-2011 sole-source contract with Dan Coffey to review Title 21 smacks of status-quo politics. Coffey's work is intended to guide the mayor's efforts to amend Title 21. The contract allows Coffey to create a new draft of the provisionally approved Title 21 land-use code.
From 2005 to 2010 the Assembly's Title 21 Committee met weekly or biweekly on Thursday mornings. The meetings were open to the public, but how many of you can attend meetings on Thursday mornings? Regular public attendees were representatives of construction interests who in most cases were paid to be there. The Citizens Coalition along with the development industry also regularly attended and offered opinions. I served on the committee for three years, but the only two constant members were current Assembly member Debbie Ossiander and former member Dan Coffey.
The Assembly's Title 21 Committee went over every word of Chapter 2, 3, and 4 many times, raising issues, discussing options and giving feedback to staff planners. Draft 4 was sent back to the Planning and Zoning Commission and returned to the committee with commission recommendations. The committee amended it again and created Draft 5, which went to the full Assembly for public comment and consideration.
By 2010 the full Assembly had provisionally adopted 10 of the 14 chapters of Title 21 and Dan Coffey, who was on the Assembly, voted for all of them. So what more could Coffey offer to this process?
At a Business Owners and Manager Association lunch meeting several months ago, Coffey bragged that over the last nine months he had been in many meetings with many contractors, builders, and developers to get their advice for his revisions. On Aug. 1, before briefing the public or the Assembly, Coffey outlined his Title 21 revisions to the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce. His revised chapters were forwarded to the planning staff with instructions that they remain confidential. Since finishing his confidential rewrite and before the public has access to it, he is out stumping for support of his work.
The new code holds many trade-offs, like higher density on less land but with more amenities. The cost trade-offs are balances and have been extensively studied. In the majority of cases, costs will be the same or less than development under the current code. Citizens are concerned that the trade-offs are being revised to meet desires of special interests. Requests from the Anchorage Citizens Coalition and Assembly member Harriet Drummond for the list of organizations and individuals involved with Coffey's work, the dates they met, minutes of their meetings and copies of pertinent documents have been ignored.
The public deserves immediate access to Coffey's revised Title 21 and the list of conferees. The Assembly would be wise to give final approval to the current provisionally approved Title 21. The mayor's amendments, based on Coffey's work, along with any other new amendments should be considered one by one in the open at the Assembly. The future of a shared community vision should not be railroaded by the interests of the status quo.
Sheila Selkregg is a former Anchorage Assembly member and former city planning director.
By SHEILA SELKREGG