Anchorage, AK Environmental Rules: Stormwater Management (2026)
Key Facts
- Trigger threshold
- 500 sq ft of land disturbance
- Small building fee
- $150 (500 sq ft to under 10,000 sq ft)
- Large site fee
- $600 (over 5 acres)
- No-fee threshold
- Under 500 sq ft or 50 cu yd
- Extra plan changes
- $95/hr, half-hour minimum
- Where it applies
- Service area per AMC 23.05.030
Summary
Anchorage charges a stormwater plan review fee before approving buildings, structures, fill, excavation, or grading inside the service area defined by AMC 23.05.030. The fee scales with how much ground the project disturbs: nothing under 500 square feet, $150 at the small end, and $600 once a site tops 5 acres.
Inside the service area as defined by Anchorage Municipal Code section 23.05.030, Applicability to service areas. The stormwater plan review fee for buildings, structures, fill, excavation, or grading shall be: ... Less than 500 square feet — No fee ... Greater than or equal to 500 square feet but less than 10,000 square fee — $150.00 ... Greater than 5 acres — $600.00
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: rev 5010260; v11 updated 2026-09-01).
Full Breakdown
002 sets the schedule. 030 defines, and only to work that actually disturbs land: buildings, structures, fill, excavation, or grading. The dividing line is 500 square feet. Disturb less than that and no review fee is owed at all. From 500 square feet up to just under 10,000 square feet, the review costs a flat $150. The schedule climbs with disturbed acreage from there, topping out at $600 for any project disturbing more than 5 acres. Fill and grading jobs are measured differently: they are billed by the cubic yardage of material moved, with no fee owed under 50 cubic yards.
The base review fee is not the whole picture. Revisions to a treatment plan, site inspections, and after-hours compliance checks each carry separate hourly charges of $95 per hour with a half-hour minimum, so a redesign after submittal costs real money on top of the original review. Municipal Development Services administers the review through Anchorage's building and development permitting process and treats a completed, paid stormwater review as a precondition of issuing the underlying permit, so the fee is effectively a gate on the project itself.
Violations & Fines
Municipal Development Services enforces plan review as a precondition of permit issuance. An incomplete or unpaid stormwater review can hold up building, grading, or excavation permits until it is resolved.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does every construction project in Anchorage need a stormwater review fee?
How much is the fee for a small project?
Do the fees apply everywhere in Anchorage?
What do plan changes cost after submittal?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Anchorage
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