Bethel council to authorize $5,200 culvert easements the city signed months ago

The City of Bethel would pay $5,200 for two strips of land along Ptarmigan Road under an ordinance set for introduction Tuesday. The city has already signed for both. City Manager Lori Strickler accepted one right-of-way on May 11 and the other on June 19, and the United States executed them on June 17 and June 22.

The measure formalizes rights-of-way for a culvert project the city says is already built. The ordinance quotes the code section it runs under, which says acquisitions "shall be by ordinance enacted by a majority vote of the city council."

The ordinance authorizes acquiring a right-of-way of about 4,451 square feet from the heirs of Lena Phillip for $3,100. It also authorizes acquiring about 3,484 square feet from Kayana Joy Swope for $2,100. Both grants are perpetual, lasting as long as the culvert is used for the purpose stated in them.

That purpose is placement and maintenance of drainage culvert "to mitigate the risk of flooding, improve creek conveyance, and improve anadromous fish passage," the movement of fish that migrate upriver to spawn. The grantor on both documents is the United States, acting through the Bureau of Indian Affairs with each landowner's consent, because of the land's status.

The ordinance puts the "approximate fair market value" of the two strips at $5,200 together. No appraisal accompanies it in Tuesday's packet. Strickler, who signed the city's acceptance of both grants, is also listed as sponsoring the ordinance.

Everything on the record comes from documents her office filed for Tuesday's meeting. Neither landowner appears in them except as a name and a price.

The measure was placed on the consent agenda for introduction. The public hearing, when residents can testify, follows Oct. 13.