Good afternoon. I'd like to call this meeting in the Senate Transportation Committee to order at 1 31 p.m.
We're in Bell's room 105 in our state's capital in
the city of Juneau, Alaska
Today is Tuesday February 5th members present are
Senator Keel senator Tobin senator Rauscher and myself senator Bjorkman senator stedman is excused
from class today of the record reflect that we have a quorum to conduct business welcome
And for everyone to send a transportation, please turn off our silencer cell phones
I would like to extend and especially warm Senate transportation welcome to our recording secretary
Heather Ramseth and our LAO moderator
Renzo Moises on our agenda today
We are holding a second hearing on Senate Bill 191, transfer of railroad land to Whittier,
sponsored by the Honorable Senator Kathy Geisel. We first heard this bill on May 15th. At that
time, we had a presentation of the bill and took invited testimony. Today, it is my intention to
take public testimony on this item and then look to the will of committee. Senator Geese'll staff,
Available for questions online, I believe either very shortly or
already will be Meghan Clemens from the Alaska Railroad.
Ms. Brown, Senator Giesel, welcome to Senate Transportation.
Could you please provide a brief recap of this bill?
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. For the record, this is Kathy Geesal. I am the Senator for Senate District E, which includes Whittier.
Whitty is located through a tunnel and is landlocked.
85% of the land in that area, in the downtown waterfront and aviation areas, is owned by the Alaska Railroad.
The City of Whitier has worked well with the Alaskan Railroad over the years and
what this bill is about.
With that, Mr. Chairman, just reminding your committee
of the hearing that you held last year,
my staff can certainly give you the sectional
and any additional comments.
Thank you very much.
Before Ms. Brown begins the Sectional,
are there any questions from committee members?
Ms Brown.
Thank you for the record page brown staff to senator geesele
Section one adds a new section on codified law
Uncotted by law providing the legal descriptions and approval for The Transfals of five parcels of land from the Alaska Railroad
Corporation to the city of Whittier in section two provides for an immediate effective date
Thank
Mr. Chairman, there are invited testimony and the city manager is present to speak to the issue as well as invited
testimony. Excellent.
We'll take a brief at ease.
And second we're gonna
We're back on the record now at
135 p.m. Our first invited test fire today will be miss Jackie wild
What are your city manager? Welcome to sentence transportation
We state your name for the Record and could you just provide us a brief recap of what is happening with this bill?
And what the city's goals and involvement have been in this process
Absolutely, a Jackie Wild City Manager for the City of Whittier.
Thank you for having me here today and for hearing the bill.
I, to give you some background, as the Senator Giesle had said,
the city has worked tirelessly with the railroad over the last couple years.
And actually for 40 years, this is a progress that has just gone on and on.
And we're really happy that over
work side by side with the railroad and come to a agreement for the five parcels that are listed
in the bill. What that looks like for this city of Whittier is the ability to operate the land
that it already does operate and grow economic development for
the city as well as the state and the rail road. This is a long time partnership that will lead
Excellent. Thank you. Any questions for him is wild
Senator keel thank you, mr. Chairman
Madam manager of the I see a gravel airstrip in the in there who currently operates that keeps it clear and
Graded, I know you don't have a tower of wood here. No, we do not have through the chair
We do. Not have an actual airport. It is a DOT airstripe
It is through a permit with the railroad.
We have spoke in length with DOT
on if this land purchase is approved
through the legislation, what that would look like.
And at the time of the very first discussions,
it was, we would just probably transfer
the same type of permit and continue the growth.
There is also, you know,
thoughts and talks about at the end of shock and cove road maybe eventually having an airport
out there too. So you know there's just all these steps that lead into this great future for us.
Yes sir. And then adjacent to that is the I think in one of the parcels that you're looking at
transferring is, the one place that shows up on the DEC contaminated sites page is that?
DOT's responsibility, railroads responsibility and how, is there a plan when you get the land
for handling that? You know, those are, sorry, through the chair. Those are options and things
that we have worked through in a process with the railroad. The largest portion that I think that
you are thinking about is the tank farm property, which is, it's not highlighted on this area.
Right next to the 3.8 acres at the head of the bay, there is this triangle type of map.
You can see the old tank farms there, the Old Tanks, and that, of course, has covenances
as far as environmental issues.
The large parcel, the 34 acres, AOI-1,
which is in this first phase, I believe it's parcel two.
I can't see it. Oh, I could see from here. Sorry. A.O.Y.I. 1 is the largest parcel.
We have currently have an active Brownsfield in place that we are doing remediation with.
So we've already been working on the contamination of some of the lands.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. As long as the city is aware and has a plan, that's a good sign.
Excellent. Further questions from Ms. Wilde?
Thank you, ma'am. Thank You
We'll go next to Ms. Clemens of the Alaska Railroad
Ms Clemons could you please for the committee just provide just a little bit of background from the railroad point of view of what is happening with this land transfer
Certainly and I good afternoon
For the record, my name is Megan Cummins, and I am the External Affairs Director for the Alaska Railroad.
And thank you for your opportunity to express the Alaskan Railroad support for Senate Bill 191,
which as we've discussed, would authorize the railroads to sell identified parts of the grid to the city of Whittier.
I'll start by noting that selling land isn't something the railroad takes lightly.
So, as you will know, the process to sell railroad land requires not only legislative authorization but also railroad board approval, with our board obligated to buy that the land is not necessary for railroad purposes and that a sale would serve the best interest of the state.
As we remain focused on our mandate to maintain Alaska's rail network and provide safe and reliable transportation for good passengers.
that over the last number of years, as City Manager Wilde noted,
the railroad and the city have engaged in ongoing discussion
in addition and perceived as a mutually beneficial land sale.
Through this process, the scope of the proposed sale
has evolved and replied along the way,
culminating in a proposal offered by the Railroad
at our board's direction to sell three parcels
in liter core downtown district at fair market value
So following this proposal, we were pleased to receive a conditional letter of intent
from the City of Whittium in late January, and just this morning, the Alaska Railroad Board
of Directors at their meeting passed a resolution approving the sale of areas of interest 1, 2,
As I mentioned, this discussion has a follow-up over the last year, and as has been noted,
this legislation includes authorization to spell two additional part roles, noted as areas of interest 4 and 5.
And I do want to clarify that completing the sale of part goals 1, 2, 3, would in no way preclude revisiting 4
And in fact, having this legislative approval to sell those parcels to the city could help
to expedite that process to be received by guidance from our board in the future.
So with that, it's background.
Thank you again for the opportunity to keep today in support of this legislation.
It's our hope that this landfill is responses to the needs of the community and the railroad
helps the city realize its goals for local growth and prosperity
and sets the stage for an ongoing productive relationship between the
railroad and city of Lydia in the years to come.
Thank You. Thank
you very much. Any questions for Ms. Clemons?
Hearing and seeing none, Ms. Clemens, thank you again for joining us to send a transportation today
Senator Giesel, do you have any wrap-up comments?
Very well
At this time
Senator Rousher
Yeah, Thank You. I'd like to say
Appreciate Senator for bringing this forward
This is long overdue
This has been years and years long over do
and I appreciate the railroad coming forward and acting in the matter that they have and
the city working together on this. And I really appreciate
the fact that we've come to a decision which is workable for both.
And thank you for your hard work and the City of Wave over the years and their consistency
in trying to achieve what we're at today. So I just appreciate it and thank again to the
At this time we will now open public testimony on Senate bill 191
Is there anyone in the room who wishes to testify to this item?
Is or anyone online who wish to testify to Senate Bill 191
Hearing and seeing none we'll close public Testimony
There any further committee discussion
Hearing it seeing none. What are the wishes of the committee?
Mr. Chairman I move to report Senate bill 191 version 34 dash LS 0 968 backslash a as an achiac
From committee with individual recommendations and the attached zero fiscal note
Seeing and hearing no objections Senate bill 1 9 1 version 3 4 dash Lima Sierra 0 9 6 8
backslash a as an achia chuck
Moves from committee with individual recommendations and attached fiscal notes
Committee members, please stay
After we adjourn to sign the committee report
Next week the Senate transportation committee will not meet on Tuesday. We will meet. On Thursday
And we will hear from the Department of Transportation and other invited testifier on an overview of the Cascade Point project.
As there is no further business to come before the committee today, we are adjourned at 1.45 PM.