City of Houston likely to expand

HOUSTON — The city of Houston is moving forward with plans to expand its boundaries to include uninhabited land to its west.

“The council has a non-coded ordinance that’s been introduced that we the council will be voting on,” said Houston Mayor Virgie Thompson. “That’s just basically for me to proceed with all the paperwork. It’s one of the preliminary stages before I can turn in a petition.”

The land in question belongs to Knikatnu with subsurface ownership belonging to CIRI, an Alaska Native corporation created under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. It was the owners who actually brought the request to the city this spring, Thompson said. Since then, the request has become more formal with lines actually drawn on maps and paperwork filed with the city.

“The submission includes 1,504 acres to be annexed into the city which basically follows the same route as the rail spur and there is no one living in the property; it’s all undeveloped,” Thompson said.

Though Houston has the fewest residents of any of the borough’s three cities — much fewer than in Wasilla or Palmer — it is the largest by land area, encompassing 22.4 square miles, according to its website. The land being considered for annexation would increase its size by 10 percent.

Which, of course, makes the annexation process a whole lot simpler.

“There should not be any legislative approval required or a vote before the people actually, because there’s no one that lives in it,” Thompson said.

Once the paperwork is complete, she said she will submit it to the state’s Local Boundary Commission for approval.

“Once the information is received at the Local Boundary Commission it could take anywhere from four to five months,” Thompson said.

She described the land as running along the route of the borough’s future Point MacKenzie rail spur.

“Where it comes out of the northern end of the Big Lake area there it follows it all the way to the Parks Highway,” Thompson said.

Knikatnu could not be reached as of press time. Thompson has said previously that the company was interested in building a relationship with the city as development in the area continues.

Contact Andrew Wellner at 352-2270

or andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com.