Kenai River Keys Subdivision - Dedication & Easements - 2022

This project was all about subdiivison street dedication and whether it created private streets or public streets. At the time this was presented to me I had only run into one other subdivision in Alaska where the streets were clearly not dedicated to the public. That was the Kennicott Subdivision filed as Plat 77-1 in the Chitina Recording District. The street rights-of-way were defined in the notes and stated that "These rights-of-way are private, reserved for the use of the present owners and owners of lots in the Kennicott Subdivision and their guests, but not for the public in general." At the time this plat was filed it was within the Unorganized Borough and not subject to any platting authority.

For this project, I was asked for and testified regarding my opinion as to whether a certain portion of the subdivision ROW in the Kenai River Keys subdivision constituted a statutory dedication to the public or a platted extension of a private road easement. The case was heard in the Kenai Superior Court and came to a close with a Final Judgment in February of 2022.

The Kenai River Keys subdivision was platted under the authority of the Kenai Borough. In order to maintain its intended recreational values, the developer asked for and received an exception to the platting rules requiring public dedication of streets. A subsequent plat extending Sockeye Lane to provide access to additional lots (Plat 74-85) used a conventional certificate of ownership and dedication creating conflict with one of the adjoining property owners.  In its 9/2/21 Quiet Title Decision the court found that based on ambiguous wording on the plat, that there was no public dedication and that the only remaining question was the scope of the private easement.  This was jointly resolved by the parties with the 9/2/21 Statement of Scope of Existing Channel Easement and Acknowledgment of Limitation of Road Easement Encumbering Lot 11, Block 05, Kenai River Keys Subdivision.

Date	Documents
7/3/20	Kenai River Keys Dedication - jfb report (3mb)
Kenai Peninsula Borough
6/6/72	Developers Letter Requesting Exception
7/24/72	Report Recommending Exception
7/6/72	Developers Request Exemption
6/3/74	KRK Developer's Submittal
n/a	KPB Aerial Photo with Lot Lines
Miscellaneous
6/6/78	Amended Acess Easement Block 4
10/24/20	Case Summary from Closing Statements
n/a	Kenai Keys Notes - jfb
n/a	KNK Additional Notes - jfb
Recorders Office
11/3/72	Covenants B68 P299 Kenai - superseded
11/3/72	Kenai River Keys Subdivision Plat 72-62
12/4/72	Plat 72-62 Declaration of Easements B68 P770
5/8/72	Vesting WD with Oil Reservation
1972	Covenants KRK Subdivision
2/5/73	WD Kenai Keys Development to Timperley
10/1/74	Plat 74-85 Declaration of Easements B80 P174
9/26/74	Tract A Plat 74-85
6/6/78	Amendment to Declaration of Easements B125 P923
4/12/84	Plat 84-77 L1A B26 SLE Vacation
6/1/84	Plat 84-126 L1A B26 SLE Vacation
9/16/92	Plat 92-44 Am Plat 72-62
7/25/95	L8 B4 Revocable License
8/26/02	KRD Covenants 2002-008058
2002	Covenants KRK Subdivision
7/22/04	Sample Deed L A-3 Plat 74-85
3/21/11	Plat 2011-7 L32 B6 Accretion
1/5/73	L20 B4 WD B69 P199
Recorders - Lot 11 B 5 Deeds
4/17/18	Quitclaim Deed - Timperley to Shaw
12/6/72	Warranty Deed - to Kenai Keys Development, Inc.
6/5/73	Warranty Deed - to Timperley
12/11/85	Quitclaim Deed - to Timperley
Resources
4/22/80	1980 Inf. Op. A66-428-80 - Effect of Plat Dedication
8/27/04	2004 Dedicated Rights of Way - memo
n/a	Alaska Statutes AS 40 Dedications
varies	Deed Interpretation - Alaska case law
2/2/77	Kennicott Tracts 1977-77 - street ROW not for public
Resources - Alaska Case Law
9/27/19	Collins v Hall
11/10/83	Creary v KPB
1/13/12	HP Ltd v. Kenai River Airpark
5/26/95	Kalenka v. Taylor
6/22/12	Schweitzer v. Salamatof Air Park
12/9/64	State v. Simpson
Resources - Examples
8/11/14	Declaration of Easements - Michigan
2018	Declaration of Easements - Kansas
1988	Declaration of Restrictions Easements Liens and Covenants - John Marshall Law Review
4/6/17	Hidden Ridge Restrictions HOA - Ohio
n/a	Private Road Maintenance Agreement - Michigan
Resources - Images
n/a	Google Earth Entire Subdivision
n/a	Google Earth Tract A
n/a	Plat 72-62 Tr A Snapshot
n/a	Plat 74-85 Tr A Snapshot
n/a	Vicinity Map - from USGS Quadrangle
Superior Court
1/21/20	Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgement
10/15/20	Defendant's Closing Statement
10/15/20	Timperley Closing Argument
11/12/20	Summary Judgment
2/26/20	Affidavit of Mark Aimonetti Edge Survey
2/28/20	Plaintiff's Memo Opposing Defendant's Motion
3/17/20	Plaintiff's Reply to Defendant's Opposition
5/11/20	Plaintiff's Statement of Issue to be Tried
5/19/20	Defendant's Statement of Purpose
1/25/21	Quiet Title Decision - Kenai River Keys
11/10/21	KRKPOA Reply Summary Judgment
9/2/21	Scope of Existing Channel Easement
3/9/22	Final Judgment
4/4/22	CourtView Notes Case Closed
n/a	Document Notes - jfb
4/26/20	Plaintiff - Exhibit 17 2
6/3/74	Plaintiff Exhibit 16