LOCAL BOUNDARY COMMISSION PUBLIC NOTICE

NOTICE OF PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD ON THE PRELIMINARY REPORT WITH  RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE LBC CONCERNING THE HOUSTON ANNEXATION PETITION AND THE BIG LAKE CITY INCORPORATION PETITION

The Local Boundary Commission (LBC) staff preliminary report concerning the petition to incorporate a Big Lake city by local option and the petition for annexation to the City of Houston by unanimous consent will be released on December 17, 2014. The report recommends that the LBC approve the Houston annexation petition without amendment or condition. Per the Big Lake petitioner’s request, the LBC staff recommends that the LBC condition incorporation upon voter passage of a proposition authorizing the city to levy a three mil rate real property tax. The LBC staff also recommends that the LBC amend the boundaries of the proposed Big Lake incorporation by removing:

• the territory proposed by the City of Houston annexation petition
• territory north and west of Horseshoe Lake and north of the Papoose Twins Lakes
• territory to the west of Burma Road and south of Diamond Lake,
• territory east of Stephan Lake and Anna Lake.

A map with the recommended boundaries is shown below. The territory recommended for the Big Lake incorporation is now approximately 68 square miles. The territory proposed for the Houston annexation remains approximately 2.43 square miles.

The report and both petitions with related materials will be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at the LBC website under: commerce.state.ak.us/dca/lbc/2014_Big_Lake_Incorporation_and_Houston_Annexation_Petition. If the report is not immediately available on the LBC website, contact the LBC staff to request a copy.

Interested persons or entities may file with the LBC written comments regarding the preliminary report, as well as the recommendations. Comments should also be served on (sent to) the applicable petitioner(s). Comments submitted to the LBC staff should be accompanied by a statement that the comment was served on the applicable petitioner(s), or the commenter should notify LBC staff of an inability to serve comments on the petitioner. Public comments must be filed and served in accordance with 3 AAC 110.480 and 3 AAC 110.700. The LBC has waived the requirement that commenters send a paper original of an electronically submitted comment.  Oral comments on the recommendations for amendment or conditional approval may be provided at the hearing. Written comments on the recommendations must be filed on or before the same date as comments on the preliminary report. All comments must be received by 4:30 pm, Friday, January 16, 2015 at:

Following its consideration and analysis of comments on the preliminary report, LBC staff will issue its final report, scheduled to be issued on February 18, 2015. Procedures governing departmental reports are set out in 3 AAC 110.530. It is recommended that persons interested in receiving future LBC notices, updates, and materials by email subscribe to the LBC notice list server by visiting http://list.state.ak.us/index.htm, selecting “DCED-Local Boundary Commission,” and following the instructions.