Joining the conversation is Mike James, a 25-year Senior Vice President of the Commercial Real Estate Division at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Alaska Realty, and a lifelong Alaskan. This episode is a deep dive, not a highlight reel, and it covers more ground than the title lets on. I sat down with Daniel Mckenna-Foster from the Municipality's Planning Department to talk through the update to the Anchorage Wetlands Management Plan. We explored why so much of Alaska development runs into red tape long before a shovel hits dirt. We also talked about why I still, to this day, call certain split-level homes "breeder boxes." Episode Breakdown: What Actually Counts as a Wetland in Anchorage? There are really two different definitions in play. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers defines a wetland as "waters of the United States" under federal jurisdiction. Separately, the Anchorage Wetlands Management Plan has its own definition and its own regulatory map, more like a zoning layer than a federal designation.The two usually overlap, but they can diverge. A site can fail the federal test and still be fully protected locally, or vice versa.Until a few years ago, the Municipality actually held a general permit that let it make some federal wetlands determinations directly. The Army Corps declined to renew that permit around 2021, so Anchorage lost that authority for lower-class wetlands. The A, B, and C Wetland Classifications, Explained Anchorage still uses a local A, B, and C classification system for wetlands, separate from federal jurisdiction. Class A is the most sensitive and is rarely developable at all, something like an actual lake is extremely difficult to fill.Class B wetlands can be developed, but a project above a certain size has to go through the Watershed and Natural Resources Commission for review and mitigation.Class C wetlands are the most flexible: a developer can typically get a straightforward permit and move forward with mitigation, without the added commission review.Anchorage's official wetlands map is more than 10 years old, and wetlands boundaries genuinely shift over time, sometimes because of climate change, sometimes because of something as random as a broken water pipe creating a low point that later got mapped as a wetland. What Is a Wetlands Bank, and How Does the $75,000 Fee Actually Work? A wetlands bank is essentially a trade-off system. If you're developing in an area where a wetland already isn't very functional, paying into the bank funds the protection of a healthier wetland elsewhere, in perpetuity. Instead of trying to preserve a small, degraded pocket in the middle of a developed area.Great Land Trust is the main wetlands bank both the Municipality and private developers use in the Anchorage area, though Heritage Land Bank, a municipal entity, is also involved in assembling and holding some wetlands-related parcels.I shared my own experience developing Huffman Timbers, where I had to pay $75,000 into a wetlands bank to develop a portion of the property classified as wetlands.Daniel was candid that there isn't a precise, published formula for that number today. The Municipality has generally followed the Army Corps of Engineers' methodology, which weighs how much water a wetland holds, how functional it is, and how it fits into the larger drainage system.Giving developers real clarity and certainty on cost before they commit to a project is one of the top priorities of this update.Daniel pointed out that some of Anchorage's most unrecognizable former wetlands prove how much has changed: Blueberry Lake, near Benson and Northern Lights in Midtown, was a real lake decades ago and is completely gone from the landscape today. On the flip side, the Target-anchored redevelopment at Sea Street and 100th shows wetlands can be incorporated well: that project kept some wetland area as part of the site's landscaping instead of paving over it entirely. Federal vs. Local: The Two Different Wetlands Rules You're Actually Dealing With The Army Corps of Engineers regulates "waters of the United States" under federal jurisdiction. The Anchorage Wetlands Management Plan protects wetlands based on local drainage and community value, which is a related but separate interest.A site can be a wetland under one definition and not the other. Daniel used Blueberry Lake as an example: it likely wouldn't qualify as a federally jurisdictional water today, but it would absolutely still be protected under the local plan because of the drainage function it performs.Getting an official federal jurisdictional determination from the Army Corps currently takes 18 months or longer, which is part of why this update aims to give developers a clearer sense upfront of which path they're on. The Due Diligence Steps Every Developer Should Take Before Buying Land Start with the Municipality's GIS wetlands layer to see if a parcel is mapped as a wetland, whether it's a single-family lot or a 20-acre commercial site.If the map looks wrong or outdated, a licensed firm can complete a new delineation, which can potentially update the official map once certified.If wetlands are confirmed and the parcel is above a certain size, it goes to the Watershed and Natural Resources Commission for review and possible mitigation measures.Daniel's blunt advice is this: Budget for a third-party consultant early. It's an added expense. But it can save far more money than it costs by avoiding a bad purchase or a drawn-out fight with the Army Corps. A Smarter Way to Build on Partially-Wetland Lots Right now, if part of a lot is wetlands, current subdivision rules can make it hard to use the developable portion efficiently.The Municipality is looking at expanding use of cluster housing, cottage housing, narrow-lot housing, and conservation subdivisions, so a builder can concentrate density on the buildable part of a lot instead of losing units to the wetland.My own pitch on the show: pair that with zoning exceptions tied to wetlands, so a lot that might only support one large home today could instead support two or three smaller homes around a preserved wetland used as shared open space. Could Wetland Banking Credits Become the Next Bottleneck? Wetlands banks let developers buy mitigation credits instead of restoring wetlands themselves, but Anchorage's supply isn't unlimited, and credits are tied to specific geographic regions.I raised a real concern on the show: one large project, like an airport expansion, could use up a meaningful share of the credits we have. Daniel agreed that's worth tracking as part of this update, and flagged Heritage Land Bank as a group already active in this space that could potentially play a bigger role. Why the 2018 Earthquake Still Matters for New Construction Anchorage is also updating its seismic layers map, which has largely relied on observations from after the 1964 earthquake. The science of how earthquakes move, laterally versus vertically, has advanced significantly since then.My take: in the residential properties that saw the most damage in 2018, poor soils and inadequate site preparation were often a factor. As we get better mapping, permitting should come with real requirements around excavation and foundation work in vulnerable soils, not just broader restrictions on where people can build. What's a "Breeder Box," and Why Doesn't Anyone Build Them Anymore? Early in my career, I gave split-entry homes an unofficial nickname: the "breeder box." You walk in the front door into a landing barely wide enough for a person and a half, then choose to go up or down. I got some pushback for the name, but anyone who has stood in one of those entries knows exactly what I mean.Baby boomers, the generation that has driven Alaska's housing market since the day the troops came home after World War II, largely built and bought those homes. Now that same generation increasingly wants something different: smaller, single-level, high-quality homes, often as a second home, and many don't mind an attached unit or an HOA.Tearing down and rebuilding isn't the easy fix it sounds like either. A single-family teardown alone can run $30,000 to $40,000 before construction even starts, and tariffs and post-pandemic cost increases have made that more expensive over the last decade. It's genuinely cheaper to work with an existing structure than to start over, if the zoning would only allow it to be reconfigured. Where This All Connects: Red Tape Shows Up Everywhere An outdated wetlands map, an 18-month wait for a federal jurisdictional determination, and zoning that won't allow a smaller home next to a split-level are three different problems with the same root cause: rules that haven't kept pace with how Anchorage actually needs to grow.Whether it's wetlands or housing type, the fix Daniel and I kept circling back to is the same: more flexibility to concentrate density and variety where it makes sense, instead of forcing every lot in a zone into an identical mold. "Clarity and certainty, those are two of the priorities of this project." — Daniel Mckenna-Foster What's Next The wetlands update officially kicked off this fall, with initial mapping and delineation review underway now.A public open house...
