Legislature(2023 - 2024)DAVIS 106
04/04/2024 08:00 AM House COMMUNITY & REGIONAL AFFAIRS
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| SB161 | |
| HB221 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| += | SB 161 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| *+ | HB 221 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
HB 221-SUBDIVISION OF UNPLATTED LAND
8:34:05 AM
CHAIR MCCORMICK announced that the final order of business would
be HOUSE BILL NO. 221, "An Act relating to subdivision of
unplatted land in second class boroughs; and providing for an
effective date."
8:34:15 AM
REPRESENTATIVE ASHLEY CARRICK, Alaska State Legislature, as
prime sponsor, presented HB 221. She paraphrased the sponsor
statement [included in the committee packet], which read as
follows [original punctuation provided]:
Alaska has abundant land resources, and land ownership
is a goal for most Alaskans. Unfortunately, there are
a large number of land parcels in boroughs around
Alaska that were created outside the subdivision
process, such as by recoding a deed, resulting in a
large number of lots that cannot legally be further
subdivided. In the Fairbanks North Star Borough for
example, it is estimated that there are as many as
10,000 land parcels that were created outside the
subdivision process and many of those illegal
subdivisions were not created by the current property
owners. If a property owner has an improperly
subdivided land parcel they cannot further subdivide
or sell off parts of that lot. Currently, for
illegally subdivided land to be further subdivided,
the owner of that land would have to research the
entire history of the creation of their parcel and
notify all other land owners in that parcel of the
further subdivision presenting a very burdensome and
bureaucratic process for landowners.
HB 221 allows our boroughs to create an exemption
process for illegally subdivided lands to be further
subdivided without the current burdensome legal
process. This is important for homeowners as well as
businesses to be able to more easily sell land. I hope
you will join me in supporting HB 221.
8:37:04 AM
STUART RELAY, Staff, Representative Ashley Carrick, Alaska State
Legislature, on behalf of Representative Carrick, prime sponsor
of HB 221, presented the sectional analysis [included in the
committee packet], which read as follows [original punctuation
provided]:
Section 1. AS 29.35.210(b)
Adds a new subsection allowing second-class boroughs
to create an exemption process for a land owner to
further subdivide their land that has not been
approved by the platting authority.
Section 2. AS 29.40.180(a)
Adds new subsection allowing for landowners to sell
lands that meet the requirements of the exemption
process in section 1.
Section 3. AS 40.15.070(a)
Allows land within a municipality to be subdivided
using the exemption process in section 1.
Section 4. Effective Date
Provides an immediate effective date.
8:38:54 AM
KELLEN SPILLMAN, Planning Director, Fairbanks North Star
Borough, gave invited testimony during the hearing on HB 221.
He explained that deep splits, or "illegal subdivisions," have
historically been prevalent in the Fairbanks area. Most of the
activity occurred in the pipeline era when it was difficult for
the Borough to enforce the subdivision regulations. The
practice essentially ended in the mid-1980s when the borough
became more aggressive in enforcing regulations. He reported
that approximately 10,000 parcels, or one-fifth of the parcels
in the borough, were potentially created by deep splits. Over
time, these parcels were bought and sold, leading to significant
problems when someone unknowingly purchases of one of these
parcels and either wishes to subdivide it or shift the lot
lines. He shared the example of a section of land in the North
Pole area that had been split 99 times. In order to further
subdivide or shift the lot line, all 99 other owners would need
to sign on to that subdivision application. He reported that
the problem is statewide, however, the scale of the problem in
other communities pales in comparison to what's being seen
Fairbanks. The the end goal, he said, would be to implement
clear authority in state statute to address these deep splits.
8:43:34 AM
REPRESENTATIVE MEARS requested clarification on the barriers
[created by deep splits].
MR. SPILLMAN said the biggest barrier is further subdivision and
changing the lot lines, or even knowing where the lot lines are.
REPRESENTATIVE MEARS asked whether the parcels are legally
recorded with the recorder's office.
MR. SPILLMAN answered yes, the parcels are recorded by a metes
and bounds description.
8:45:37 AM
REPRESENTATIVE CARRICK described the legislation as a work in
progress. She said she wanted to make sure that it truly
accomplishes the goal of benefitting the North Star Borough and
others and looked forward to working with the committee to
accomplish that with HB 221.
[HB 221 was held over.]