My career with DOT&PF Right of Way began in Fairbanks in October of 1986. I was the first professional land surveyor hired into the position of "ROW Engineering Supervisor" for the Northern Region. While the partial acquisition of a parcel of land for new ROW (fee estate) appears on its face to be a "subdivision", I found that DOT&PF had not traditionally submitted or sought approval of the ROW mapping from the local platting authorities. At some point one of our Assistant Attorney Generals copied me a memo dated 12/11/85 in which the Northern Region was informed of new Borough ordinances requiring compliance with their platting authority. Specifically the memo noted AS 35.30.020 requiring compliance with local planning and zoning ordinances and AS 9.55.275 that required DOT&PF obtain borough approval of a replat when land was to be condemned for a project.
We then started to submit our ROW plans to the appropriate platting authority with the understanding that ROW plats were in fact not the subdivision plats envisioned by the typical platting ordinance. First, they were not voluntary...the owner could object to the "subdivision" of their land but could rarely prevent the taking by eminent domain. Therefore, no signature of the owner on the plat was necessary. Also these parcels were not designed to increase land use and so the standards for lot size, shape or access were not issues. They were intended to collectively establish a widened or realigned transportation corridor. So our early dealings with a platting authority had DOT&PF submitting traditional ROW maps with enhancements desired by the platting authority such as a table identifying the recording information for each acquisition, and the survey data for monuments recovered and set for the project. The ROW Acquisition plat is essentially a Record of Survey that reflects the parcel acquired and the monuments recovered or set. If DOT&PF met those minimum requirements, the Platting Authority would grant preliminary replat approval and therefore place us in compliance with Alaska Statutes and Borough ordinances. Although a struggle at first, this seemed to improve the relationship between DOT&PF and the Platting Authorities at the time. However, once we moved into the rural areas to acquire land for a project, we had few platting authorities to deal with. This was generally the case in the Unorganized Borough. Most of our projects there were for airports and our rules required that we obtain fee interest for maximum control over airport lands. Under AS 40.15, Article 4, DNR was established as the platting authority in the Unorganized Borough. This authority was implemented on August 18, 1998. Prior to this authority, subdivisions of land in the Unorganized Borough could be made by deed and required no platting, reviews or approvals. The enabling statutes also addressed ROW acquisition plans under AS 40.15.380 and provided a subset of requirements compared to subdivisions of lands by private owners.
That brings us to the two subject airport projects. The transition into the DNR Platting authority by DOT&PF was slow. DOT&PF had a tradition of acquiring airport lands in fee without platting approvals and would often accept "dedication deeds" from local governments for the access road ROW leading to the airport. As these did not meet the formal offer and acceptance format of a statutory dedication, they were essentially "common law" dedications. The Acquisition Platting memo for the Chefornak/Kipnuk airports is the first document listed below. It summarizes the history of rural airport acquisition platting and how we addressed it for the Chefornak & Kipnuk projects.
| Date | Documents |
|---|---|
|
1/23/15 |
|
| ROW Acquisition Platting | |
|
n/a |
|
|
n/a |
|
|
2/21/07 |
|
| Acquisition Platting - Examples | |
| 2010 |
|
| 2012 |
|
|
2011 |
|
|
2014 |
|
|
2012 |
|
|
2010 |
|
|
2014 |
Platinum
Airport - (2mb) |
|
2009 |
|
|
2014 |
|
| Chefornak Airport |
|
|
n/a |
Chefornak ROW Acquisition Plat - Description |
|
n/a |
|
| Chefornak - BLM | |
|
8/11/15 |
|
|
9/30/83 |
|
|
5/20/15 |
|
|
10/6/14 |
|
|
12/6/60 |
|
|
3/15/72 |
|
|
5/20/15 |
MTP
S0010N0860W - (2mb) |
| DNR | |
|
4/5/11 |
Less than 40 acre remainder DNR policy -11 AAC 53.670(d) |
| DOT&PF | |
|
2/20/04 |
|
|
3/28/08 |
|
|
8/30/11 |
|
|
8/30/11 |
|
|
n/a |
|
|
n/a |
|
| Kipnuk Airport |
|
|
12/11/13 |
2013-001421-0 Airport -Commissioner's QCD |
|
7/22/15 |
email Re Parcel X-1D - related to Commissioner's QCD |
|
7/20/15 |
email Parcel X-1D - Platting |
|
2/2/82 |
|
|
n/a |
Kipnuk ROW Acquisition Plat -Description |
|
3/28/83 |
Land Exam S11477 Lot7 - Allotment Report |
|
11/2/82 |
Tract 1 - 14c4 Kugkaktlik to DOT - Quitclaim Deed |
|
7/25/94 |
USS 11477 Specials - Survey Instructions |