Heads up: The five-year-long rewrite of Anchorage's zoning code is actually progressing. A section aimed at imposing real design standards, for the first time, on houses, apartment buildings and townhouses is nearing completion. This is perhaps the most important section of the code for reducing the ugly factor in the Anchorage Bowl -- the flat, featureless buildings, treeless lots and asphalt yards of so many housing developments.

How might the residential design standards change the face of the city?

• Garages -- The street-facing side of houses could no longer be totally dominated by a garage door. That has two benefits: The houses will look more inviting and attractive. And more front windows will mean more people watching what goes on in the streets -- which makes it a safer place to live.

The details are yet to be settled. Many towns across the country, including snowy and cold ones, decree no more than 50 percent of the width of the house's front can be garage door, city planners say. The Anchorage Assembly is weighing that against local residents' desires for two or three-car garages, and developers' assertions that affordable housing could get more costly with even a 55 percent rule, for example.

So far, an Assembly committee has recommended garage doors be limited to taking up 60 percent of the width of a house, at most.

• Unrelenting asphalt -- You've seen the long rows of townhouses with nothing but asphalt as a front yard. That would no longer be allowed. Developers would have to put plants between driveways. Under one proposal, they'd have to put a tree for each townhouse somewhere on the property.

• Plain, dull exteriors -- Covered porch areas and a certain percentage of windows would be required on house-fronts. For townhouses and apartment buildings, designers would have to pick several features such as shutters, balconies and bay windows to add interest to the facade. Developers putting in five or more houses would have to mix up the designs with different colors, siding, roof lines, landscaping and the like.

Getting to this point has involved some serious compromises and controversies.

Architect Jeff Wilson told the Assembly committee that many architects are not in favor of housing design standards. He thinks the whole thing is a bad idea -- that it puts responsibility for the design details of a residential building in the hands of the city instead of private developers.

But everyone agrees that architects design only a small portion of Anchorage housing, and often that's high-end houses with custom features. It's the rest of the housing that needs standards.

The Anchorage Home Builders Association has also been critical, though not opposed to the idea of residential design standards.

Andre Spinelli, vice president of the association, says, "a garage door is a necessity. We favor the option of decorating the garage door."

A citizen's group that advocates for neighborhoods is pushing planners and politicians the other direction -- seeking strong rules to improve the look and safety of the places where people live.

But the housing standards are expected to go to the Assembly around the end of November, said Erika McConnell, a senior planner with the city.

The Assembly has already adopted most other sections of the new code, but most will not take effect until the entire code is adopted.

The updated code will make Anchorage a prettier, greener place, and result in better neighborhoods. It's time to get it done.