[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 146 (Thursday, November 15, 2012)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6856-S6857]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Ms. MURKOWSKI:
  S. 3633. A bill to provide for the unencumbering of title to non-
Federal land owned by the city of Anchorage, Alaska, for purposes of 
economic development by conveyance of the Federal reversion interest to 
the City; to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
  Ms. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce legislation 
to clear the title to three small parcels of land owned by the 
Municipality of Anchorage, in Alaska, my home State, so that the land 
can be put to more productive uses in the future.
  At different times between 1922 and 1982, these three parcels of 
land, located in downtown Anchorage, comprising 2.65 acres in total, 
were conveyed to either the former ``City of Anchorage'' or more 
recently the ``Municipality of Anchorage.'' They were transferred by 
the Federal government to the local government for a wide variety of 
specific purposes, but all were transferred for the overarching purpose 
of helping the then nascent City of Anchorage, which was, and largely 
still is, surrounded by Federal lands, have sufficient land resources 
to provide municipal services to the growing community. For reasons 
that made sense decades ago, all of the deeds for these properties 
contain reversionary clauses, that should the land not be used for 
various general ``municipal purposes'' their ownership would revert to 
the Federal Government. The problem is that in each case, the tracts 
are no longer useful for the purposes originally intended, the lands 
are not needed by the Federal Government, the public purpose for which 
the reversion clause was put in price has long ago been fulfilled, and 
in any case, if they

[[Page S6857]]

were to be returned to the federal estate, it would cost the Federal 
Government substantial sums to maintain the properties or prepare them 
for future sale.
  These small tracts are not practical for the federal government to 
repossess for several reasons: the Federal Government is barely able to 
manage all the land it currently owns in Alaska, including in 
Anchorage, let alone adding small tracts to burden its responsibility. 
After more than 50 years since the Statehood Act, and more than 40 
years since the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act's passage, the 
State and our Native People still have not received final patent to all 
their lands. The public purposes for which the Federal reversionary 
clauses were put in place have been met. These clauses were added to 
insure that during its earlier, developmental stages, Anchorage would 
use the federal land conveyed to it to build the city and the municipal 
and public infrastructure of the community. After decades of dedicated 
public use of these properties, the ``public purpose'' basis for the 
clauses has been fulfilled. For these properties, my legislation 
addresses the question of how long is long enough for a reversionary 
clause to have served its purpose, by recognizing that after decades of 
living up to its obligations under what are now outdated restrictions 
from the last century, it's time to let the city move forward with its 
vision for the new one. The commercial use of the properties will add 
to the public municipal treasury, and to the Federal treasury, hence 
continuing the public benefit of the lands, albeit in a different way.
  In 1922 the City of Anchorage received a number of properties around 
Anchorage for municipal/school purposes. One of the properties was the 
1.93-acre site in Block 42 downtown that since the early 1980s has been 
the site of the William A. Egan Convention Center. With the completion 
in 2010 of the larger Dena'ina Civic and Convention Center, the tract 
is surplus to municipal needs, and could best be utilized for sale to 
the private sector that would then be best able to afford the cost of 
conversion of the property for future use, adding to the Federal income 
tax base and local property tax base.
  The second tract is a lot of .48 acres at Seventh and I Streets 
downtown, currently being used as a municipal parking lot. The land, 
obtained by the city as part of a 1982 land exchange that cleared the 
site for a major office building across the street, is too small for 
municipal or federal office space use, or for park construction, but 
might be properly sized for a commercial enterprise. It is zoned for 
business, but cannot be used for business that would contribute to the 
local property tax based or federal income tax base, because of the 
inability of the Municipality to sell the property due to the federal 
reversion clause.
  The third site at the corner of H Street and Christiansen Drive, .24 
acres in size and obtained by the city in 1963, again is too small for 
municipal or federal office space, and unneeded for park space, but 
might be of use for a retail establishment given its location near a 
municipal parking facility. Likewise, it is zoned for business/
commercial, but cannot be used and potentially contribute to the local 
and federal tax bases due to the federal reversion requirement. It 
currently sits vacant and idle.
  In all cases, the best municipal use of the lands would be for sale 
to provide revenues to the Municipality of Anchorage that could be used 
for provision of municipal social services. In each case, reversion of 
the lands to the federal government would result in federal ownership 
of tracts unneeded for federal purposes, but lands that would produce 
greater conveyance and management costs to the federal treasury than 
are likely to be recovered through fair market sales.
  The Municipality of Anchorage and its Mayor Daniel Sullivan have 
asked that the reversionary clauses be repealed on the three tracts, 
the city absorbing all costs connected with surveying, recording and 
other costs connected with the properties. In these cases, lifting of 
the reversionary clauses on three of the literally thousands of acres 
conveyed to Anchorage, partially as a result of the Alaska Statehood 
Act, makes for good land use, and economic and public policy sense for 
both the local government and the Federal Government. The Municipality 
of Anchorage has already established 223 parks containing 82 
playgrounds and 250 miles of trails, encompassing 10,946 acres inside 
its boundaries. There is no shortage of park and open space in the 
municipality. There is no public policy purpose in the 21st Century not 
to permit these very limited Federal reversion extinguishments.
  Passage of this act would cost the Federal Government nothing, but 
would aid the citizens of Anchorage by allowing lands to be put on the 
city's tax rolls. I am introducing this bill now to allow plenty of 
time for everyone to review the merits of this bill prior to hopefully 
serious consideration of this issue in the 113th Congress.
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