Legislature(2013 - 2014)BUTROVICH 205
02/18/2014 03:30 PM Senate COMMUNITY & REGIONAL AFFAIRS
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| SB157 | |
| Overview: Alaska Conference of Mayors | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| *+ | SB 157 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED |
SB 157-FIRE PROTECTION SERVICE AREAS
3:32:20 PM
CHAIR MICCICHE introduced SB 157, an act sponsored by Senator
John Coghill that relates to municipal fire protection service
area boundary changes. He said SB 157 is being heard for the
first time and the intent is not to pass the bill out at today's
meeting. He set forth that SB 157 will be back before the
committee at the next meeting with the expectation to move the
bill at that time.
3:32:53 PM
SENATOR JOHN COGHILL, Alaska State Legislature, Juneau, Alaska,
SB 157 sponsor. He informed the committee that SB 157 was
initiated by the Fairbanks North Star Borough. He explained that
at times a fire engine will go right past a fire station to take
care of their fire service area. He set forth that SB 157 will
provide for additional boundary flexibility. He detailed that SB
157 will allow the Fairbanks North Star Borough to set their
boundaries that best suits the equipment management. He pointed
out that the tax rates are not intended to change and the fire
service would end up being served better.
3:34:50 PM
HANS RODVIK, Staff for Senator Coghill, Alaska State
Legislature, Juneau, Alaska, provided an overview of SB 157. He
read the following statement:
Current state law, AS 29.35.450(c), allows a local
assembly without a vote by the property owners in the
fire service area to increase the number of parcels in
a fire service area if the increase in parcels is not
more than 6 percent, or would not add more than 1,000
residents to the area. SB 157 adds a corollary
provision into statute that will allow an assembly,
without a service areawide vote as is currently
required, to remove a small number of parcels, or make
some minor boundary changes to a service area, so long
as the property owners request it and it meets the
criteria set out by ordinance.
3:35:46 PM
SENATOR EGAN joined the committee meeting.
MR. RODVIK continued to provide an overview of SB 157 as
follows:
Under current law, an election of the entire service
area is necessary just to remove that one small
parcel. As you can see in the maps provided, fire
service areas in the Fairbanks North Star Borough have
some off-boundaries. SB 157 will provide property
owners and local governments a streamlined way to fix
such ambiguous boundaries of fire service areas.
Furthermore, the changes to statute we are purposing
will allow property owners to receive fire service
from a fire department nearest to their residence.
Fire service areas are constantly growing and even
being created. SB 157 gives property owners the
ability to quickly adjust boundary changes. Therefore,
SB 157 is important because it gives property owners
the ability to choose to be covered by closer service
areas and thus receive faster emergency services when
the time arises.
3:36:48 PM
CHAIR MICCICHE welcomed Senator Egan to committee meeting.
MR. RODVIK continued his overview as follows:
Likewise, we think that statute must be fixed because
development patterns of roads have resulted in first
responders traveling through different fire service
areas to access land parcels that are within their
service area. Like Senator Coghill said, we have fire
trucks passing by other departments to reach a parcel
of land that they are trying to go and serve. The maps
provided show examples of this problem. In conclusion,
the ability to establish a less cumbersome process for
changing fire service boundaries will allow
municipalities to define more natural boundaries,
therefore making it easier for emergency responders to
determine which parcels to serve. Lastly, SB 157
provides municipalities with the flexibility needed to
adjust boundaries based on the service levels
available.
3:38:25 PM
CHAIR MICCICHE announced that SB 157 will be kept open for
public testimony. He said SB 157 will be held in committee until
the next meeting.
3:38:59 PM
DAVID GIBBS, Director, Emergency Operations, Fairbanks North
Star Borough, Fairbanks, Alaska; thanked Senator Coghill for
bringing SB 157 forward and announced that the Fairbanks North
Star Borough supports the passage of SB 157. He read the
following statement:
In our borough, fire service areas were established in
the early 1980s with a best-guessed eye towards future
growth and development patterns. For the most part,
these growth estimates have held true and our
residents enjoy high quality fire protection services.
However, there are a few situations where development
has not occurred as anticipated and service area
residents owning parcels along the boundaries of fire
service areas may be receiving substandard fire
services response due to distances from service
providers or very limited fire protection due to
problems with accessibility. The Fairbanks North Star
Borough believes that the only avenue currently
available to us in statute to address these anomalies
with fire service area boundaries is overly cumbersome
as it requires the expense and effort of multiple
elections to make even minor adjustments to the
boundaries of existing fire service areas. SB 157
provides municipalities with much needed tools by
giving a municipality the authority to decrease or
transfer by ordinance a small number of parcels in a
fire service area without holding an election.
Decreasing or transferring parcels by ordinance
provides property owners with an opportunity for a
public hearing before any action is taken. Parcels
along the boundary of a fire service area might be
decreased at a property owner's request if, for
example, they are not road accessible. In our borough,
the Fairbanks North Star Borough, there are areas that
were included in fire service areas where development
was planned, roads were platted but never built.
Residents will still pay fire protection taxes, but
due to limited accessibility, cannot reasonably expect
to receive a high level of quality fire services.
Passage of this legislation and a companion ordinance
by a municipality will allow a property owner in this
situation to petition the municipality's legislative
body to have his property removed from fire service
area until better road access was developed. We do not
have a mechanism currently to remove people from fire
service areas who cannot receive the service. Parcels
may be transferred to an adjacent fire service area
when adjacent service area has a much closer fire
station and therefore able to provide a much higher
level of fire protection. I believe we have provided
maps showing you a couple of examples that exist
within our borough; these are not, I should add, the
only examples within our borough. These are examples
where a fire department may have to pass through one
or more adjacent fire service areas before it can
provide services to its own area. In closing, the
Fairbanks North Star Borough believes that SB 157 will
greatly assist our ability to administer fire service
areas by insuring service area boundary parcel owners
receive the best possible fire protection and giving
those residents who are paying for, but not receiving
fire services, a simple and straight forward method to
remove their property from a fire service area.
3:42:38 PM
SENATOR BISHOP announced his support for SB 157. He asked what
does it cost the Fairbanks North Star Borough to run a service
area election.
MR. GIBBS answered approximately $9,000.
CHAIR MICCICHE thanked Mr. Gibbs. He noted a letter of support
and passage of SB 157 from Mr. Jeff Tucker, 2nd Vice-President,
Alaska Fire Chief's Association.
3:43:56 PM
CHAIR MICCICHE announced public testimony will be held open
until the next committee meeting. He announced that SB 157 will
be held until the next meeting.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| SB 157 version N.pdf |
SCRA 2/18/2014 3:30:00 PM |
SB 157 |
| SB 157 Sponsor Statement.pdf |
SCRA 2/18/2014 3:30:00 PM |
SB 157 |
| SB 157 Fiscal Note DPS 2-16-14.pdf |
SCRA 2/18/2014 3:30:00 PM |
SB 157 |
| SB 157 Supporting Documents - Alaska Fire Chiefs Association 2-17-14.pdf |
SCRA 2/18/2014 3:30:00 PM |
SB 157 |
| SB 157 Supporting Documents-JurisdictionBoundaryShiftDemo_ChenaRidge.pdf |
SCRA 2/18/2014 3:30:00 PM |
SB 157 |
| SB 157 Supporting Documents-Overview of Fairbanks Fire Stations.pdf |
SCRA 2/18/2014 3:30:00 PM |
SB 157 |
| SB 157 Supporting Documents-JurisdictionBoundaryShiftDemo_CrestLine.pdf |
SCRA 2/18/2014 3:30:00 PM |
SB 157 |