Officials say the changes are meant to balance safety and efficiency.
Amid a major housing shortage, Anchorage officials are hopingAnchorage Mayor Suzanne LaFrance has pledged to build or renovate ten thousand homes in ten years. Some of the code changes could help increase development, according to Daniel King, Anchorage’s Engineering Services Manager.
“The update to the code is a benefit,” he said, “because it improves safety for a lot of measures and also reduces unnecessary requirements. ” The changes make some aspects of building less expensive and more efficient without compromising safety, King said.
For example, developers can now build some apartments with a single set of stairs, which increases the number of possible units on a small lot.
“This is a great first step,” King said. “There's going to be more streamlining down the road, but this allows us to stay on the same level as the rest of the world on safety. ” King said the changes won’t help with one major problem though. They won’t affect the high cost of building materials.
The city worked with a team of developers, engineers and architects to review and suggest changes to city code. The process took nearly two years to complete.
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