Legislature(1995 - 1996)
03/22/1995 01:37 PM Senate CRA
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* first hearing in first committee of referral
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+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
SCRA - 3/22/95
SB 107 LAND GRANT FOR DENALI BOROUGH
SENATOR TORGERSON brought SB 107 before the committee as the next
order of business.
Number 125
SENATOR MIKE MILLER, prime sponsor of SB 107, said he introduced
the legislation at the request of the Denali Borough Assembly.
The purpose of SB 107 is to increase the land grant to the borough.
Under the Municipal Land Entitlement Act, the borough would be
getting approximately 51,000. However, the borough is going
through a process of identifying their needs and they would like to
have 71,000 acres of state land in order to build an economic base
in their borough.
Senator Miller said his position over the years has been that the
closer government is to the people the better it is. There is a
lot of land in state inventory and nothing will happen to a lot of
that land, but if it is the hands of the local government, chances
are much greater that it will be put into production and provide an
economic base for the community.
Number 208
SENATOR KELLY voiced his concern that in the past there have been
boroughs that weren't able to get all of their land entitlements so
they were given cash settlements instead.
Number 215
JOHN GONZALES, Mayor of the Denali Borough testified from Healy in
support of SB 107. He said the borough hired consultants and has
been working the last two years to determine what the borough would
need in order to support itself. The lands they are asking for are
VUU (vacant, unappropriated, unreserved) lands inside the borough,
and the 71,000 acres they have identified are needed in order to
meet their goals.
Number 245
DARREL MUELLER, Chairman of the Land Planning Committee in Healy,
stated most of the land within their boundary is in federal control
or restricted by state classifications, making them unselectable
under the Municipal Entitlement Act. The Denali Borough not only
needs land now for development, but they need it for future growth
as well. They expect it will provide a tax base for providing
services for borough residents, as well as visitors to the Denali
area. He said they are involved in a community planning process
and they are in the process of establishing their property
management system.
Number 290
SENATOR TORGERSON asked if the Denali Borough has selected its
entitlement of 51,000 acres, as well as how much state land is
within the boundaries of their borough. DARREL MUELLER answered
that they are in the preliminary process right now and they've come
up with approximately 25,000 acres that come under the VUU
requirement for state land. There are approximately 510,000 acres
of state land within their boundaries.
Number 305
SENATOR R. PHILLIPS asked what the status was on the northeast part
of the Mat-SU area annexing with the Denali Borough. DARREL
MUELLER answered that the only requests that they have received
have been from a Native corporation to annex part of their
corporate land into the southern area of the borough.
Number 315
SENATOR HOFFMAN asked if there was a breakdown on the lands they
are contemplating selecting under the 51,000 limit and the lands
they anticipate selecting under the 71,000 limit. DARREL MUELLER
acknowledged that a breakdown could be prepared and forwarded to
the committee.
Number 325
RON SWANSON, Director, Division of Land, Department of Natural
Resources, said he wasn't present to take a position on the bill,
but to provide the committee with information so it could decide
the direction it wants to take.
Last year the same type of process was done with the Lake &
Peninsula Borough and they ended up with an entitlement of 125,000
acres, which is quite a bit more than their 10 percent figure that
they would have been otherwise entitled to. The division worked
with the Lake & Peninsula Borough to look at particular maps of
where their selections would be, the type of land they would get,
and the purpose they would put them to.
Mr. Swanson said in the case of the Denali Borough, they have not
yet been certified for their original entitlement. Within two
years and a half years from incorporation, the Department of
Natural Resources must certify what their entitlement would be and
that is due in December of this year. Within one year of the date
of certification, the municipalities must make their selections.
Mr. Swanson related that within the Denali Borough there is a
little over 2 million acres of state land. About 500,000 of that
is considered VUU land and the borough's entitlement would be 10
percent of that.
Mr. Swanson said the department wants the borough to become self
sufficient, but they need to have a better sense for where these
selections would be, for what purposes, and any pitfalls that they
might see that might be out there.
Number 375
SENATOR TORGERSON asked Mr. Swanson when he thought everyone could
get together and try to figure this out. RON SWANSON answered that
the sooner the borough can get the department maps to look at, the
sooner he could give an answer on that. He pointed out that they
haven't completed their process for the 51,000 acres and, yet, they
are asking for an additional entitlement. MAYOR GONZALES said one
of the reasons they have come with the 71,000 acre figure is
because they would like to do this process all at once instead of
having to spend more money to go through a process again.
Number 400
SENATOR ZHAROFF requested that information be provided to the
committee on how the formula works for these land selections.
There being no other witnesses wishing to testify on SB 107,
SENATOR TORGERSON stated the bill would be held over.
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