WCA seeking Institute property for Tribal use

The Wrangell Cooperative Association has submitted a letter to the Borough Assembly requesting that the Wrangell Institute Property be donated to WCA.

The letter requests that the possibility of WCA acquiring the land be placed on the April 23 Assembly agenda for discussion. According to Borough Manager Tim Rooney, the item will be placed on that meeting’s agenda.

In a March 25 letter to the Borough, WCA board president Tim Gillen lays out his reasons for the request of the property that formerly housed the Institute.

“Wrangell Cooperative Association is in the process of generating our long range goals and objectives,” Gillen wrote. “One of the most important aspects of these is land, which we do not have. We believe that given (our) contributions to this community, it is not unreasonable, and we are therefore respectfully requesting that the City and Borough of Wrangell give great consideration to donating the old BIA Institute property to Wrangell Cooperative Association, in whole or in part. We understand that the City and Borough has invested a good deal in this site, but we feel that with this land, Wrangell Cooperative Association can move forward with our planning and use it to provide community and business growth that will benefit not only out Tribal members, but our entire community.”

In his response to Gillen’s request, Rooney mentioned a key factor the city was involved with regarding the property.

“The Economic Development Committee has been working on the development of a prospectus for the property for over a year,” Rooney stated. “The Borough Assembly, at their March 26, 2013 meeting, approved staff to advertise for ‘Requests for Development Proposals’ from interested parties. With that action occurring prior to your request, I am not sure what the Borough Assembly can do without a formal development proposal being submitted by WCA.”

Rooney also informed the WCA that because of the appraised value of the property, any disposition or sale would require approval by the voters of Wrangell.

“The Institute Property was recently appraised at $1,625,000 on March 16, 2013,” Rooney continued. “With that in mind, the Charter of the City and Borough of Wrangell requires that ‘The sale or lease of any borough property, real or personal, or the sale or other disposal of any interest therein, the value of which property, lease, or interest is more than $1,000,000 shall be made only by authority of an ordinance enacted or ratified at any election by an affirmative vote of a majority of the qualified voters of the borough who vote upon the question of approval or enacting the ordinance (the ordinance being submitted to the voters by the assembly or by initiative of the voters).’ In short, if the Borough Assembly were to grant the property to WCA, it would require a vote of the people because it is valued at more than $1,000,000.”

The item will be set for discussion at the April 23 meeting of the Assembly.