HB 103: "An Act requiring local government approval of highway, local service road, and other transportation projects within the boundaries of a municipality or within two miles of a village; and allowing the Department of Transportation and Public Facilities to make grants to qualified nonprofit transportation planning organizations."
00HOUSE BILL NO. 103 01 "An Act requiring local government approval of highway, local service road, and 02 other transportation projects within the boundaries of a municipality or within 03 two miles of a village; and allowing the Department of Transportation and Public 04 Facilities to make grants to qualified nonprofit transportation planning 05 organizations." 06 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 07 * Section 1. AS 19.15 is amended by adding a new section to read: 08 ARTICLE 2. LOCAL TRANSPORTATION PLANNING GRANTS. 09 Sec. 19.15.100. GRANTS TO NONPROFIT TRANSPORTATION 10 PLANNING ORGANIZATIONS. (a) The department may make grants to nonprofit 11 transportation planning organizations for public education and information, to purchase 12 professional engineering and planning consulting services, for public opinion surveys, 13 meetings, and for other activities that facilitate local citizen involvement in the 14 transportation planning process of their municipality.
01 (b) An application for a grant under this section must include a detailed budget 02 of proposed expenditures, a detailed description of the activities or projects for which 03 the grant is to be used, a description of how these activities or projects will facilitate 04 citizen involvement in the transportation planning process of the municipality, and any 05 other information required by the department. 06 (c) Information an organization develops or obtains under a grant under this 07 section shall be made available to the department and the public. 08 (d) The department shall adopt regulations to implement this section. 09 (e) The legislature may appropriate for grants under this section from funds 10 received from the federal government for local or state transportation planning. 11 (f) In this section, "nonprofit transportation planning organization" means a 12 nonprofit organization that is based within a municipality, whose directors all live 13 within the municipality, and one of whose purposes is to facilitate local citizen 14 involvement in the transportation planning process of the municipality. 15 * Sec. 2. AS 35.30.010 is repealed and reenacted to read: 16 Sec. 35.30.010. REVIEW AND APPROVAL BY LOCAL AUTHORITIES. 17 (a) Except as provided in (b) of this section, before commencing construction of a 18 public project if the project is located (1) in a municipality, the department shall 19 submit the plans for the project to the planning commission of the municipality for 20 review and approval; (2) within two miles of a village, the department shall submit the 21 plans to the village council for review and comment; (3) within one-half mile of the 22 boundary of an area represented by a community council established by municipal 23 charter or ordinance, the department shall submit the plans to the community council 24 for review and comment. If final disapproval by resolution of the governing body of 25 the affected municipality or village is not received within 90 days from the date the 26 project was submitted to the municipality or village, the department may proceed with 27 the project. 28 (b) Notwithstanding AS 19, if the public project is to be constructed by the 29 department and is a highway, local service road, or other transportation project, then 30 the department may not begin construction on the project until it has first received the 31 majority approval of the
01 (1) governing body of the municipality if the project is located within 02 the boundaries of a municipality; or 03 (2) village council of the village if the project is located within, or 04 within two miles of, a village. 05 * Sec. 3. AS 35.30.030 is amended to read: 06 Sec. 35.30.030. WAIVER. For a public project, other than a highway, 07 local service road, or other transportation project, if [IF] a department clearly 08 demonstrates an overriding state interest, waiver of local planning authority approval 09 and the compliance requirement may be granted by the governor. The governor shall 10 issue specific findings giving reasons for granting any waiver under this section.