State proposes five-year lease extension for Noatak school site at airport

Noatak's public elementary school and its bulk fuel tank farm would stay on state airport land five more years under a lease extension the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities proposed August 6, even though the airport itself is slated to close once a replacement facility is built.

The applicant is the Northwest Arctic Borough. The parcel, listed as Parcel C under Lease ADA-70284, covers about 73,651 square feet at Noatak Airport. Annual rent is $10,826.70 plus associated fees. The authorized use is non-aeronautical: maintenance and operation of the existing school facility and the fuel tank farm that serves it. The application is filed under AS 02.15.

The proposed extension overlaps with a separate relocation project driven by Noatak River erosion, which has narrowed the buffer to the runway to less than 300 feet. The project's Final Environmental Assessment states the existing airport will be deobligated, deactivated and closed to all aircraft operations once the new airport opens. Bulk fuel storage is not planned at the new site. A new community fuel transfer system is planned instead.

The two documents describe the facility differently. The lease notice identifies the authorized use as maintenance and operation of an existing public elementary school facility, while the Northwest Arctic Borough School District describes the facility on its website as "Noatak School is a K-12 school serving the community of Noatak." The notice does not explain the difference in wording, and the state has not said what airport deactivation and property disposal would mean for the school parcel if the extension is granted. Separately, community stakeholders have positioned themselves in favor of continuing the land tenure without interruption so the school and its fuel system remain secure.