Native Village of Eklutna v. Board of Adjustment for the Municipality of Anchorage

995 P.2d 641, 30 Envtl. L. Rep. (Envtl. Law Inst.) 20381, 2000 Alas. LEXIS 8
CourtAlaska Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 4, 2000
DocketS-8695
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 995 P.2d 641 (Native Village of Eklutna v. Board of Adjustment for the Municipality of Anchorage) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Alaska Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Native Village of Eklutna v. Board of Adjustment for the Municipality of Anchorage, 995 P.2d 641, 30 Envtl. L. Rep. (Envtl. Law Inst.) 20381, 2000 Alas. LEXIS 8 (Ala. 2000).

Opinion

OPINION

MATTHEWS, Chief Justice.

I. INTRODUCTTON

This case concerns the issuance by the Planning and Zoning Commission of a conditional use permit for a granite mining operation to the National Bank of Alaska. The decision granting the permit is challenged by the Native Village of Eklutna. Because the *642 Commission failed to consider properly the potential historical significance of the area, we vacate the decision of the Board of Adjustment and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

II. FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS

A. Facts

National Bank of Alaska (Bank) owns 160 acres of land north of the Native Village of Eklutna (Eklutna). Since March 1995 this property has been zoned 1-2 SL (heavy industrial, special limitations). The special limitations of the zoning included a requirement that a master plan for development of the site (including, inter alia, a traffic impact analysis and identification of critical habitat/wetland areas) be submitted to the Planning and Zoning Commission along with any application for a conditional use permit.

The Bank’s property is located in the Chugiak-Eagle River Comprehensive Plan (the “Plan”) area south of Knik Am and north of the Glenn Highway and the village of Eklutna. The Plan, required by municipal ordinance, dictated that the Municipality develop and implement a long-range plan concerning the physical development of the Municipality. Under the Plan, the Bank property was classified for industrial use because of the existing quarry next to the property. 1 The southwestern and western boundaries of the property border a parcel owned by the Alaska Railroad Corporation, and the Alaska Railroad tracks separate the Bank property from the Eklutna village to the south. The Alaska Railroad has used its property as an industrial granite quarry site since the 1940s. The Bank property is accessible by a rail spur which runs past the face of the quarry.

The Bank proposes to conduct a granite mining operation in the southwest corner of the property, on the Bank-owned side of the same quarry that is presently operated by the Alaska Railroad. Over the next twenty to twenty-five years, the Bank intends to expand the operation northward to the northwest corner of the property. The Bank currently uses the opposite end of the property, in the northeast corner, as a private recreation area for picnics and social gatherings.

The southwesterly portion of the Bank’s property encompasses one-half of the larger of two hills. Eklutna claims that these two hills possess great cultural significance as the objects for which the village is named, according to Dena'ina Athabascan tradition. Both sides agree that the Bank’s proposed mining operation will destroy that portion of the larger hill located on the Bank’s property-

B. Proceedings

In July 1995 the Bank filed an application for a conditional use permit to conduct a granite mining operation on the southwesterly portion of the property. With the application, the Bank submitted a “Master Plan for Development of NBA’s Eklutna Property.”

The application and master plan were reviewed by a number of state and local agencies, most of which had no comment and a few of which suggested revisions or conditions. Ultimately, the planning staff of the Municipality of Anchorage Department of Community Planning and Development recommended that the Commission approve the master plan and conditional use permit, subject to some conditions.

The Planning and Zoning Commission held a public hearing on November 6, 1995. The Commission approved the master plan, but initially denied the conditional use permit. At its next meeting, in December 1995, the Commission voted to reconsider its denial of the permit as well as its approval of the master plan, and the matter was rescheduled for February 1996. Sometime between the November and December meetings, the Bank supplemented the permit application with an archeological report (“the Hart Crowser Report”), and then submitted wetlands, wildlife, and habitat studies between the December and February meetings. In January 1996 the Bank also prepared and submitted a traffic impact analysis. In February the planning staff presented another report to the Commission, again recommending that the Commission approve the master *643 plan and conditional use permit, with conditions. This report contained a section listing issues that the Bank had to resolve “[p]rior to the conditional use becoming effective,” including an “archaeological survey [to] be submitted for review and approval by the State Historic Preservation Officer, if required.”

On February 12 the Commission conducted another public hearing. At the conclusion of this meeting, the Commission approved the master site plan and approved the conditional use permit, subject to conditions of approval. These conditions of approval were identical to the conditions of approval listed in the report of the planning staff.

Eklutna appealed to the Anchorage Board of Adjustment, which affirmed the Commission’s decision. The Board decided that the findings of the Commission were “supported by substantial evidence in the record,” and made additional findings of fact in support of the Commission’s decision.

Eklutna then appealed to the superior court, which affirmed the decision of the Board. The court held that there was substantial evidence to support the Board’s determination that the conditional use would be compatible with existing and planned land uses in the surrounding neighborhood, as required by Anchorage Municipal Code (AMC) 21.50.020(G), and that the traffic impact analysis requirements of AMC 21.50.020(D) were met. The court also held that substantial evidence supported the Board’s decision that the special limitations of Anchorage Ordinance (AO) 94-169(aa) were satisfied, including the identification of habitat and wetlands areas. Finally, the court found that substantial evidence supported the Board’s conclusion that no cultural resources would be adversely affected by the permit activity, though the archeological report prepared by Hart Crowser on behalf of the Bank “constituted the minimal information necessary for the Board to make its determinations in compliance with the law.” The superior court refused to reach Eklut-na’s argument that an archeological survey of the site must be reviewed by the State Historic Preservation Officer prior to the conditional use permit becoming effective, on the ground that Eklutna had waived the issue by failing to specifically include it in the statement of points on appeal.

Eklutna appeals to this court.

III. STANDARD OF REVIEW

South Anchorage Concerned Coalition, Inc. v. Coffey 2 establishes the standard of review applicable to the Board of Adjustment decision in the present case. “[J]udicial review of zoning board decisions is narrow and ... a presumption of validity is accorded those decisions.”

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Bluebook (online)
995 P.2d 641, 30 Envtl. L. Rep. (Envtl. Law Inst.) 20381, 2000 Alas. LEXIS 8, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/native-village-of-eklutna-v-board-of-adjustment-for-the-municipality-of-alaska-2000.