A dollar-a-year lease would help stand up an American Legion post near Alaska's first state veterans cemetery

The Fairbanks North Star Borough is weighing a lease that would help establish an American Legion post in Salcha — part of the buildout around what's billed as Alaska's first state veterans cemetery.

Under an ordinance Mayor Grier Hopkins is sponsoring, the borough would lease about two acres near milepost 331.5 of the Richardson Highway to Interior Alaska American Legion Post 99 for $1 a year, for an initial four-year term with a four-year renewal option. Borough code normally requires a competitive process and fair-market rent, but the ordinance makes a "compelling public purpose" finding to waive the low rent, and deems the parcel unsuitable for commercial use because of a decades-old state gravel agreement — clearing the way for the direct lease.

The reason it matters is what's going in next door. The State Office of Veterans Affairs called Post 99 "an outstanding potential partner" for the Interior Alaska Veterans Cemetery in Salcha — a 257-acre site funded by a $16.7 million VA grant and expected to serve more than 12,000 Interior veterans, with construction anticipated by October 2027. The post would give veterans outside Fairbanks a gathering place close to the new cemetery; the borough's only other Legion location is near downtown Fairbanks, where most such services are concentrated.

The proposal has broad backing. Seven Interior state representatives and three senators wrote to the borough that a long-term lease would let the post "expand its operations" and "continue offering a safe and reliable gathering place for veterans and their families." No letters of opposition appear in the packet. The measure is a discussion item at the Aug. 20 worksession, with introduction set for Aug. 27.