Press Release
BIA Sends Notice on Lands Into Trust Applications for Lands Used as Parking Lots
April 7, 2017
(Juneau, AK) – The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) yesterday put out public notice of three applications from the Central Council Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska (CCTHITA) to take a total of one-fifth of an acre of lands currently used for parking into trust. The BIA is asking for comments to be submitted by May 5, 2017. The lands are all located in an area known as the Juneau Indian Village in downtown Juneau.
According to the notices, the three parcels are surrounded by other property either owned by the Tribe or owned by tribal members. If all three applications were granted, around one-fifth of an acre would be placed into trust. Two of the applications are contiguous lots that are currently used as a parking area. The smallest parcel, 757 square feet, is a vacant lot. There are no plans to change the current uses of the property.
The State has 30 days to comment. Over the next two weeks, the State will be gathering information regarding the application in order to analyze the impact of the property being put into trust status. In particular, BIA is requesting comments on “the impact of the removal of the subject property from the tax rolls, and…. jurisdictional problems and potential conflicts of land use which may arise.”
The State encourages any Alaskan that has information that should be incorporated into the State’s comments to send the information to attorney.general@alaska.gov. Comments must be received by April 21, 2017 in order for the State to have sufficient time to consider them before submitting final comments to the BIA. Comments can also be submitted directly to the BIA, Alaska Region at 3601 C Street, Suite 1100, Anchorage, Alaska 99503.
For more information, see the attached notices and map identifying all of the parcels.
- Notice of Applications from CCTHITA - (PDF 884K)
- Map of Lands for CCTHITA - (PDF 166K)
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Department Media Contacts: Communications Director Patty Sullivan at patty.sullivan@alaska.gov or (907) 269-6368. Information Officer Sam Curtis at sam.curtis@alaska.gov or (907) 269-6269.