Framework Plan Ready for Review

The Planning Team has been hard at work over the past several months preparing the Hillside Framework Plan, working with the Citizen Advisory Committee, and meeting with Hillside developers, and with groups such as Community Councils, the Home and Land Owners Organization (HALO), and local road service organizations. Building from the Anchorage 2020 Comprehensive Plan, the Framework Plan outlines options on important Hillside issues to set the stage for informed, public discussion. It does not present decisions or recommend specific courses of action but rather presents alternatives for public review. Feedback from the public will be used to develop the Hillside District Plan, to be released in summer 2008. After further public review, a revised Hillside District Plan will eventually go to the Anchorage Assembly for approval.

Alternatives considered and evaluated in the Framework Plan include:

• Options to increase residential density in the lower Hillside and decrease density in the southeast Hillside, with associated changes in the "maximum perimeter of public sewerage"
• Options for establishing an integrated system of drainage, trails, roads and open space to guide future Hillside development - a "green infrastructure" approach
• New standards to guide development, e.g. standards for retaining natural vegetation to reduce runoff
• Options for potential Hillside commercial development
• New options for water and wastewater management on the Hillside
• Proposed service area to manage roads, trails and drainage on the Hillside

The Framework Plan will be reviewed at the next series of Hillside District Plan workshops, set for the evenings of April 23rd and 24th, 2008. Electronic versions of the full Framework Plan (as well as its separate sections) and useful background reports are available on the Hillside District Plan website, www.hillsidedistrictplan.com. Or, click in the "Learn More" column , to the right, to download the full Framework Plan (7.57 MB).

Listen to NPR's report on Conservation Subdivisions

Day to Day, March 26, 2008· "Conservation Subdivisions," a new type of building plan, are emerging in more than 20 states. The layout permanently preserves open space by building houses close together on small lots.