02/10/1994 01:00 PM House CRA

  HB 352 - SUBDIVISION PLAT APPROVAL:UNORGANIZED BOR                           
                                                                               
  REPRESENTATIVE JEANNETTE JAMES, SPONSOR OF SSHB 352, read                    
  her sponsor statement and a supporting letter from the                       
  Department of Natural Resources (DNR) aloud: "This is a                      
  relatively simple bill.  Basically, it is to assign a                        
  platting authority for subdivisions that are done outside                    
  organized boroughs where there may or may not be platting or                 
  planning authority in place and even in those municipalities                 
  where they have no planning authority.  This would allow the                 
  DNR to be acting as that planning authority.  Currently all                  
  plats are filed with DNR but they do no review and they have                 
  no authority to do any review.  Currently no legal authority                 
  reviews plats in the unorganized boroughs for compliance                     
  with state Laws.  This means that there is not agency review                 
  of access to each lot, the outcome is that there are                         
  landlocked lots created.  Currently `paper plats' are                        
  allowed to be recorded without being surveyed, HB 352                        
  corrects this oversight.  This legislation requires the                      
  Department of Natural Resources to review plats for                          
  compliance with state law.  There are several definitions of                 
  street and subdivision in various statutes, this legislation                 
  defines them as requested by the Department of Natural                       
  Resources.  And I have a statement here by the Department of                 
  Natural Resources which I would like to read into the                        
  record.  The letter from Harry Noah to myself regarding this                 
  bill.  The Department of Natural Resources supports the                      
  Sponsor Substitute for HB 352, which includes the addition                   
  of the definitions of `streets' and `subdivisions'.  We also                 
  understand that the Alaska Society of Professional Surveyors                 
  also supports HB 352.  They specifically requested that the                  
  bill include the definitions of `streets' and `subdivisions'                 
  as in the sponsor substitute.  These two definitions are                     
  needed to establish a common definition of street and                        
  subdivisions for use by all state agencies that are involved                 
  in permitting and approval of subdivisions.  The lack of a                   
  common definition has made it difficult for surveyors to                     
  meet the requirements of all state agencies.  This bill will                 
  greatly benefit anyone purchasing or having property in the                  
  unorganized borough or third class boroughs.  There is more                  
  and more subdivision activity in our outlying areas.  The                    
  passage of this bill will ensure that land offered for sale                  
  in these areas meets the applicable laws, reduces the                        
  chances of clouded title, ensures proper location of sale                    
  parcels, and ensures that all subdivided parcels have legal                  
  access.  And that is what has prompted me to file this bill                  
  because this summer, I was involved with a plat outside of a                 
  platting area in my district, and I had a little struggle to                 
  be sure that they would include buildable legal access to                    
  these lots.  And it wasn't required of them and all they had                 
  to do was file their plat with DNR.  About noon today, I did                 
  get a position paper from the Department of Transportation                   
  and they had a concern about it and they also provided me                    
  with amendment number two.  I do have an amendment number                    
  one as well."                                                                
                                                                               
  Number 394                                                                   
                                                                               
  REPRESENTATIVE CON BUNDE said, "The fiscal note, while it's                  
  not substantial, I would like to encourage looking at the                    
  idea that the beneficiaries of these plats pay the cost of                   
  the review by DNR."                                                          
                                                                               
  REPRESENTATIVE JAMES said, "That's my amendment number one,                  
  and I was aware there was a fiscal note.  I never had any                    
  intentions of having a fiscal note.  I said this should be                   
  revenue neutral.  So I have an amendment that will do that.                  
  To talk about the amount of money, their guesstimate of how                  
  many of these plats they would be doing in a year, how much                  
  the costs would be....It's about $350 per subdivision, per                   
  plat, and that should make us revenue neutral and I will be                  
  getting a new fiscal note as soon as this amendment is                       
  adopted."                                                                    
                                                                               
  Number 414                                                                   
                                                                               
  REPRESENTATIVE BUNDE moved to adopt amendment number one.                    
  There were no objections.                                                    
                                                                               
  REPRESENTATIVE JAMES addressed the second amendment from the                 
  Department of Transportation and Public Facilities saying,                   
  "(They) have concerns because of the rule that they're                       
  working under right now, that's working quite well regarding                 
  right-of-ways and transferring leasehold interest at state                   
  owned areas.  At the end of the bill it would add `this does                 
  not apply to plats prepared for the Department of                            
  Transportation and Public Facilities for the purpose of                      
  creating or adjusting right-of-way boundaries or                             
  transferring lease hold at state owned airports.'  And this                  
  is to not interfere with what they've got going right now,                   
  and I have no objections to that amendment."                                 
                                                                               
  REPRESENTATIVE BUNDE said, "I assume when they (DOTPF) are                   
  adjusting right of way boundaries for transferring leases,                   
  they have surveyed that property."                                           
                                                                               
  REPRESENTATIVE JAMES said, "I don't think they do anything                   
  without surveys."                                                            
                                                                               
  REPRESENTATIVE BUNDE moved to adopt the second amendment.                    
  There were no objections.                                                    
                                                                               
  Number 451                                                                   
                                                                               
  JEFF OTTESEN, CHIEF OF RIGHT-OF-WAY AND ENVIRONMENT,                         
  DIVISION OF ENGINEERING AND OPERATING STANDARDS, DEPARTMENT                  
  OF TRANSPORTATION AND PUBLIC FACILITIES, testified in                        
  support of HB 352 saying, "Yes we do survey all right-of-                    
  ways.  We do survey and we do create a plat document which                   
  gets recorded and records that line in perpetuity.  The                      
  dilemma we have, and we've been having it with the boroughs                  
  too, is that a subdivision is normally a voluntary activity                  
  on the part of the land owner and when we're involved in                     
  condemnation, we're basically trying to coerce somebody to                   
  sign a subdivision that they object to and we're having to                   
  go to court to actually acquire the property and we're put                   
  in a situation where you can't survey the property, you                      
  can't get on it, you can't get them to agree to sign a                       
  document that conveys a document, when their very objection                  
  is they don't want to do this.  So we simply can't proceed                   
  with condemnation and acquire the property which has been                    
  surveyed and platted in advance.  We have to acquire the                     
  property with the court's permission and then go ahead and                   
  do the survey and do the recording.  A number of the                         
  boroughs, as they came out with their individual platting                    
  ordinances were running us through the same problem."                        
                                                                               
  Number 481                                                                   
                                                                               
  REPRESENTATIVE TOOHEY moved that HB 352 be moved out of                      
  committee as amended with individual recommendations.  There                 
  were no objections.                                                          
                                                                               
  CHAIRMAN OLBERG clarified that there would be a new zero                     
  fiscal note attached to HB 352, which will become a                          
  committee substitute when the amendments are incorporated.                   
                                                                               
  There was a brief at ease from 1:35 p.m. until 1:37 p.m.                     
                                                                               
  CHAIRMAN OLBERG brought forth HB 398.