MEMORANDUM
TO: Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly Members
FROM: Ron Drathman, Assembly President
DATE: July 1, 1999
SUBJECT: Appeals of denied vacation petitions
Under the existing code, petitions to vacate rights-of-way and easements are first
considered by the plat committee if submitted as part of a plat approval. If denied, they
may be appealed to the planning commission, and then, if denied again, they may be
appealed to the assembly or city council. Petitions to vacate that are not part of a plat
approval are first considered by the planning commission and, if denied, may be appealed
to the assembly or city council. Further appeals in both cases would be to court.
This appeal process is time consuming and costly, involving significant resources of the
petitioners, the administration, the boards, councils, and the assembly. The accompanying
ordinance would eliminate the requirement that the assembly or city council hear such
appeals, and provides that such appeals go directly to court. Alaska Statutes do not
require assemblies and city councils to hear such appeals. Some other boroughs provide for
such appeals to proceed directly from the planning commission to court.
Also, Alaska Statutes require the "governing body" to consent to any vacation
before the vacation is valid. This means that the assembly could have to consider the same
petition twice if denied vacations may be appealed to the board of adjustment (BOA): once
as the BOA and again as the governing body if the BOA grants the vacation petition.
Allowing these appeals to go directly from the planning commission to court avoids this
duplication, and could save both the taxpayer and the borough money.