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.