Chapter 18.04
TIDELANDS—DEFINITIONS
Sections
For statutory provisions regarding tidelands, see AS 38.10.
18.04.010 Generally
For the purposes of Chapters 18.04 through 18.16 KCC, the terms defined in this chapter have the meaning provided unless the context requires otherwise. [CCK Art. I §9.1.1]
18.04.020 Definitions
“Agricultural lands” means tidelands chiefly valuable for agricultural purposes.
“Alaska” means the state of Alaska.
“Assessor” means the assessor of the borough of Kodiak Island, Alaska.
“City” means the city of Kodiak, Alaska.
“City clerk” means the clerk of the city.
“City engineer” means the city engineer, or other city official designated to perform the functions herein assigned to the city engineer.
“Class I preference right” means the right extended to persons who occupied and developed tide and contiguous submerged lands seaward of the city on and prior to September 7, 1957, after executing a waiver to the city and state of all rights such occupant may have had pursuant to Public Law 85-303. Upon execution of the waiver, such persons or their successor in interest have the right to acquire such occupied and developed tide and contiguous submerged lands from the city for consideration not in excess of the cost of survey, transferring and conveying of title.
“Class II preference right” means the right extended to Class I preference right claimants who refuse to execute a waiver to the city of any rights such occupants may have acquired pursuant to Public Law 85-303. It shall be mandatory for the city to expeditiously honor the application from the occupant after the Secretary of the Army has submitted to the Secretary of the Interior, Governor of the state, and the city maps showing the pierhead line established by the Corps of Engineers with respect to the tract so granted.
“Class III preference right” means the right extended to persons who occupied and developed tide and submerged lands after September 7, 1957, and who continued to occupy the same on January 3, 1959. Such persons, or their successors in interest, have the right to acquire such occupied and developed tide and submerged lands for a consideration not to exceed the cost of appraisal, administering, and transferring, including survey, together with the appraised fair market value thereof, exclusive of any value occurring from improvements or development, such as fill material, building, or structures thereon.
“Council” means the council of the city.
“Director” means the Director of Lands, state of Alaska.
“Director’s line” means a line seaward of the city, approved by the director, with the concurrence of the Commissioner of Natural Resources, state of Alaska, seaward of all tide and submerged lands occupied or suitable for occupation and development without unreasonable interference with navigation, established prior to the pierhead or harbor lines.
“Fair market value” means the highest price, described in terms of money, which the property would bring if exposed for sale for a reasonable time in the open market, with a seller, willing but not forced to sell, and a buyer, willing but not forced to buy, both being fully informed of all the purposes for which the property is best adapted or could be used.
“Fill” means earth, gravel, rock, sand, or other similar materials placed upon tide or contiguous submerged lands for the purpose of elevating the lands for a specific useful purpose. Earth, gravel, rock, sand, or other similar materials placed on tide or contiguous submerged land solely for the purpose of spoils disposal shall not be considered “fill.”
“Harbor line” means that line fixed by the Secretary of the Army which is the limit to which piers, wharves, bulkheads, or other work may be extended in navigable waters without further authorization (30 Stat. 1151; 33 U.S.C. 404).
“Hearings officer” means that city official employed to hear disputes between claimants, summarize the testimony, attempt to reach stipulations of fact between the parties, assemble the record of the dispute, and submit the same to the council for determination.
“Improvements” means buildings, wharves, piers, dry docks, and other similar types of structures permanently fixed to the tide or contiguous submerged lands that were constructed and/or maintained by the applicant for business, commercial, recreation, residential, or other beneficial uses or purposes. Fill material for beneficial purposes by the applicant shall be considered a permanent improvement, but in no event shall fill be considered a permanent improvement when placed on the tidelands solely for the purpose of disposing of waste or spoils.
“Industrial and commercial lands” means tidelands chiefly valuable for industrial, manufacturing, or commercial purposes.
“Kodiak” means the city of Kodiak, Alaska.
“Mayor” means the mayor of the city of Kodiak.
“Mean high tide” means the tidal datum plane of the average of all the high tides as may be or has been established by the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey.
“Mean high water line” means the intersection of the datum plane of mean high water with the shore.
“Mean low water” means the tide datum plane of the average of the low tides as has been or may be established by the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey.
“Occupant” means:
(a) Any person as defined herein, or his successor in interest, who actually occupied for any business, residential, or other beneficial purpose, tidelands, or tide and submerged lands contiguous thereto, within the conveyance of such by the state to the city, on or prior to January 3, 1959, with substantial permanent improvements. The holder of a permit of clearance in respect to interference of navigation, or of a special use permit from a government agency, will not qualify as an “occupant” unless such entry on the land had, through exercise of reasonable diligence, resulted in actual occupancy and substantial permanent improvements. No person shall be considered an occupant by reason of having:
(1) Placed a fish trap in position for operation or storage upon the tide, shore, or submerged lands;
(2) Placed a setnet or piling therefor or any other device or facility for taking of fish;
(3) Placed pilings or dolphins for log storage or other moorage;
(4) Placed telephone, power, or other transmission facilities, roads, trails, or other improvements not requiring exclusive use or possession of tide or contiguous submerged lands;
(5) Placed floats or vessels upon the tide, shore, or submerged lands; or
(6) Claimed the land by virtue of some form of constructive occupancy.
(b) Where land is occupied by a person other than the owner of the improvements thereon, the owner of the improvements shall, for the purposes of Chapters 18.04 through 18.16 KCC, be considered the occupant of such lands.
“Occupied or developed” means the actual use, control, and occupancy, but not necessarily residence, of the tide and contiguous submerged land by the establishment thereon of substantial permanent improvements.
“Park and recreation lands” means tidelands chiefly valuable for public park and recreation use, including scenic overlooks.
“Person” means any person, firm, corporation, cooperative association, partnership, or other entity legally capable of owning land or any interest therein.
“Pierhead line” is a line fixed by the Corps of Engineers of the Department of the Army that is parallel to existing line of mean low tide at such distance offshore from the line of mean low tide that the pierhead line shall encompass, to the landward, all stationary manmade structures (but shall not encompass any part of breakwaters, bridges, or piers used for vessel dockage which part extends beyond such a parallel line marking the seaward extremity of other manmade structures) which were in existence as of February 1, 1957, to seaward of the particular townsite for which the pierhead line is being established, and shall encompass no more. (Public Law 85-303 (71 Stat. 623) 1957)
“Preference right,” subject to the classifications thereto established hereafter, means and includes the right of an occupant to acquire by grant, purchase, or otherwise, at the election of the occupant, except as otherwise limited or prescribed in these regulations, any tract or tracts of tidelands, or tide and submerged land contiguous thereto, occupied or developed by such occupant on and prior to January 3, 1959.
“State” means the state of Alaska.
“Submerged lands” means land covered by tidal waters between the line of mean low water and seaward to the director’s line or as may hereafter be properly claimed by the city.
“Substantial permanent improvements” shall for the purposes of Chapters 18.04 through 18.16 KCC have the same meaning as “Improvements” as defined in this section.
“Tidelands” means lands periodically covered by tidal waters between the elevations of mean high and mean low tides.
“Tidelands subdivision plat” is that certain plat of subdivision of tide and submerged lands conveyed by the state to the city made by Hubbell and Waller Engineering Corp., registered engineers, and James R. Barr, consulting engineer, dated February 4, 1961, and August 10, 1962, showing all structures and improvements thereon and the boundaries of each tract occupied or developed, together with the name of the owner or claimant thereof, including within the boundaries of each tract occupied or developed, such surrounding tide and submerged lands as shall be reasonably necessary in the opinion of the council for the use and enjoyment of the structures and improvements thereon by the owner and claimant, but shall not include any tide or submerged lands which, if granted to such occupant, would unjustly deprive any occupant of adjoining lands from the reasonable use and enjoyment thereof. In addition to the foregoing, this plat shall show tract numbers, the measurements of the boundary lines embracing such structures and improvements, the number of square feet of area in each tract, and there shall be at least one survey monument at one corner of each tract; provided, that if all corners fall in unsafe places, a witness corner shall be established on an extension of the side boundary line. Tide and submerged lands which are not occupied or developed by the establishment thereon of substantial permanent improvements as herein defined, but which are included within the boundaries or subdivided tracts as being reasonably necessary, in the opinion of the council, for the use and enjoyment of the structures and improvements thereon by the owner or claimant, were so included at the direction of the council after public notice, hearing, and due consideration. [Ord. 695 §25, 1983. CCK Art. I §9.1.1(1)—(34)]