State tentatively approves Pitkas Point cemetery lease

The state's Municipal Lands Trustee has tentatively approved leasing 1.15 acres to the Pitka's Point Traditional Council for a public cemetery for 55 years, with no rent. The approval is not yet final. The public has until 5 pm Wednesday, Oct. 28, to comment.

The Municipal Lands Trust Officer, acting for the Commissioner of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development, approved the lease in a public notice published Sept. 28. The notice says the fair-market-value requirement is waived because the cemetery serves a public or charitable purpose. The lease runs through 2081.

The commissioner holds the land, in the Bethel Recording District, as trustee for a future city in Pitkas Point. State rules generally require trust land to lease for at least fair market value. A waiver must also require the land to revert if it is used for anything else, and this lease does.

The same notice covers two other leases for the council. One renews a 1-acre playground lease for 30 years, through 2059, and moves the planned playground parcel. The other, an amendment to the community hall lease, updates the property plan to match an adjacent survey.

Comments can be submitted through the online notice. Approval becomes final 30 days after publication, or after 30 days of continuous posting, whichever is later.