September Report 2004

Buckland Water and Sewer Project

A Public hearing was held in Buckland on August 26^th on their platting that was done by LCG.  There were no comments from the public but the mayor and city manager had two concerns; one, the lot size for an individual was surveyed larger then the city wanted it to be and two, some of the street names were wrong.  LCG was contacted and these problems were solved.  We are presently waiting to hear from the City of Buckland on the two groups that need to sign of on the land transfers, NANA and DOT.

Waring Street Issue in Ambler

We have given a punch list for LCMP to follow so we could go ahead and draft a resolution for the Assembly to pass.  As of September 9, 2004 they have completed doing the things we requested and our attorney is in the process of drafting the resolution.

Community Comprehensive Plans

We have met with the mayor on the progress of assisting the communities on completing their Comprehensive Plans and he has suggested that we work separately from Maniilaq if necessary and combine our information with Maniilaq at a later date.  We did meet with Maniilaq officials from their planning office and asked if they would entertain ideas of speeding up the process because of the upcoming deadline in 2005.  In our discussions with them they felt that “capacity building” and “relationship creation” were important items that they were concerned about.

Just recently USDA has come out with a RFP grant notice for groups to come up with innovative ideas on how to get the communities to complete their Comp Plans and to develop new methods on how they could use their plans.  We have put in for that grant.  We will know September 21^st about whether we would be awarded the grant or not. 

John Emmi/DOT Lease

John Emmi was awarded the lease from DOT at Dahl Creek Airstrip.

NWAB Enforcement Activity

 This year the Assembly budgeted $20,000 for the enforcement of its ordinances on lands in Unit 23.  All summer we have tried to hire pilots for the project but all the people we contacted could not do it. However we have located a pilot with a Super Cub in Anchorage that has agreed to do it.  We have hired a local person to fly with him and take pictures when appropriate.  This activity will take place from mid September through September 30^th.