HB 79: "An Act allowing the Department of Natural Resources to quitclaim land or interests in land, including submerged or shore land, to a municipality to correct errors or omissions of the municipality when inequitable detriment would result to a person due to that person's reliance upon the errors or omissions of the municipality."
00HOUSE BILL NO. 79 01 "An Act allowing the Department of Natural Resources to quitclaim land or 02 interests in land, including submerged or shore land, to a municipality to correct 03 errors or omissions of the municipality when inequitable detriment would result 04 to a person due to that person's reliance upon the errors or omissions of the 05 municipality." 06 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 07 * Section 1. AS 38.05.035(b) is amended to read: 08 (b) The director may 09 (1) delegate the administrative duties, functions or powers imposed 10 upon the director to a responsible employee in the division; 11 (2) grant preference rights for the lease or purchase of state land 12 without competitive bid in order to correct errors or omissions of a state or federal 13 administrative agency when inequitable detriment would otherwise result to a diligent 14 claimant or applicant due to situations over which the claimant or applicant had no
01 control; the exercise of this discretionary power operates only to divest the state of its 02 title to or interests in land and may be exercised only 03 (A) with the express approval of the commissioner; and 04 (B) if the application for the preference right is filed with the 05 director within three years from 06 (i) the occurrence of the error or omission; 07 (ii) the date of acquisition by the state of the land; or 08 (iii) the date of a court decision or settlement nullifying 09 a disposal of state land; 10 (3) grant a preference right to a claimant who shows bona fide 11 improvement of state land or of federal land subsequently acquired by the state and 12 who has in good faith sought to obtain title to the land but who, through error or 13 omission of others occurring within the three years before (A) the application for the 14 preference right, (B) the date of acquisition by the state of the land, or (C) the date of 15 a court decision or settlement nullifying a disposal of state land, has been denied title 16 to it; upon a showing satisfactory to the commissioner, the claimant may lease or 17 purchase the land at the price set on the date of original entry on the land or, if a price 18 was not set at that time at a price determined by the director to fairly represent the 19 value of unimproved land at the time the claim was established, but in no event less 20 than the cost of administration including survey; the error or omission of a predecessor 21 in interest or an agent, administrator, or executor which has clearly prejudiced the 22 claimant may be the basis for granting a preference right; 23 (4) sell land by lottery for less than the appraised value when, in the 24 judgment of the director, past scarcity of land suitable for private ownership in any 25 particular area has resulted in unrealistic land values; 26 (5) when the director determines it is in the best interest of the state 27 and will avoid injustice to a person or the heirs or devisees of a person, dispose of 28 land, by direct negotiation to that person who presently uses and who used and made 29 improvements to that land before January 3, 1959, or to the heirs or devisees of the 30 person; the amount paid for the land shall be its fair market value on the date that the 31 person first entered the land, as determined by the director; a parcel of land disposed
01 of under this paragraph shall be of a size consistent with the person's prior use, but 02 may not exceed five acres; 03 (6) dispose of an interest in land limited to use for agricultural purposes 04 by lottery; 05 (7) convey to an adjoining landowner for its fair market value a 06 remnant of land that the director considers unmanageable or a parcel of land created 07 by a highway right-of-way alignment or realignment, or a parcel created by the 08 vacation of a state-owned right-of-way if 09 (A) the director determines that it is in the best interests of the 10 state; 11 (B) the parcel does not exceed the minimum lot size under an 12 applicable zoning code; and 13 (C) the director and the platting authority having land use 14 planning jurisdiction agree that conveyance of the parcel to the adjoining 15 landowner will result in boundaries that are convenient for the use of the land 16 by the landowner and compatible with municipal land use plans; 17 (8) for good cause extend for up to 90 days the time for rental or 18 installment payments by a lessee or purchaser of state land under this chapter if 19 reasonable penalties and interest set by the director are paid; 20 (9) quitclaim land or an interest in land to the federal government on 21 a determination that the land or the interest in land was wrongfully or erroneously 22 conveyed by the federal government to the state; 23 (10) negotiate the sale or lease of state land at fair market value to a 24 person who acquired by contract, purchase, or lease rights to improvements on the land 25 from another state agency or who leased the land from another state agency; 26 (11) quitclaim land or an interest in land, including submerged or 27 shore land, to a municipality to correct errors or omissions of the municipality 28 when inequitable detriment would result to a person due to that person's reliance 29 on the errors or omissions of the municipality, the quitclaim shall be made on 30 such terms and conditions as the director considers appropriate except that, if the 31 municipality has a remaining entitlement to land under AS 29.65, the land or
01 interest quitclaimed is counted against the municipality's remaining entitlement. 02 * Sec. 2. AS 38.05.035(b)(11) is repealed January 1, 1998.