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LBC To Hold Meeting on Fishing District Annexation

Local Boundary Commission

Alaska’s Local Boundary Commission is holding a meeting this week on Dillingham’s potential annexation of the Nushagak fishing district.  For more details, we go to KDLG’s Chase Cavanaugh.

In 2010, the City of Dillingham filed a petition to annex 396 square miles of Nushagak Bay.  The intent was to put the fishing district under the control of a municipality and permit the city to impose a 2.5% fishing tax.  The Local Boundary Commission approved the measure in late 2011, and it was ratified by Dillingham’s populace in April 2012.  However, the native village of Ekuk filed an appeal in February of that year, alleging that a local vote left outlying villages out of the decision.  LBC Government Specialist Brent Williams says a meeting will be held because a Superior Court Judge overturned the ratified petition in April of 2014.

"So the court gave the petition back to the LBC, and ordered the commission to direct the City of Dillingham to refile the petition as a legislative review position. The first petition had been by local action, meaning there was an election, and the second one will go to the legislature if the LBC approves the petition the second time around, and then it would go to the legislature in the first 10 days of a regular session and the legislature would have 45 days to disapprove it."

When asked why the LBC didn’t appeal the decision, Williams was unwilling to go into details.

"It's an option, but it's also an option to just redirect the city to refile the petition."

LBC will hold a public meeting about this legislative review option at its headquarters in Anchorage. He says this location is standard procedure.

"The hearing would certainly be held down the road in Dillingham as it was before, but it's typical business that LBC buildings are held in Anchorage, and they concern matters all over the state."

The meeting will take place in Anchorage at 10 AM Wednesday at 550 West 7th Avenue, Room 1620.   Those unable to attend the meeting in person can teleconference by calling 1-800-315-6338 and entering access code 32721.    Additional information, including the full agenda, is available at the LBC’s website.