To ensure that potential buyers know as much as possible before putting in their bids for any of the 20 lots at the Alder Top Village (Keishangita.’aan) subdivision, the borough is putting together an information fair for people to talk with builders, lenders and municipal officials.
“You can go around to individual booths and talk with people,” said Kate Thomas, the borough’s economic development director. She described it as similar to a health fair, with information booths — not a set schedule of presentations. “Come as you are, whenever you want.”
The event is planned for 9 a.m. to noon Feb. 24 at the Nolan Center.
In addition to inviting lenders and contractors, borough officials will be at the event to answer questions about zoning, utilities, electrical requirements and other issues that new homeowners may have.
The goal is to provide answers for potential bidders to make them smarter consumers and better prepared for home building and ownership, Thomas explained.
Anyone interested in setting up an information booth at the event can contact Thomas at City Hall at 907-874-2381, or email kthomas@wrangell.com. There is no charge for a booth.
The borough will first sell the front 10 parcels at the subdivision in an online auction, and then the back 10 by lottery. The borough assembly still needs to set the final terms of the land sale. The planning and zoning commission forwarded its recommendations to the assembly last month.
The tentative schedule for the land sale has been nudged back to late summer, “closer to fall,” Thomas said, to ensure that bidders will have access to the parcels.
“People want to be able to inspect the lots they will be bidding on,” which means survey stakes will need to be placed, she said. Potential bidders also have told borough officials they want to be able to walk the lots before the sales. That will mean waiting until road and utility construction is complete, so that people can safely access the parcels, Thomas said.
And then, winning bidders will want full access to the lots so that they can start work, she said.
The 20 lots are close to a half-acre each. The 10 front lots that will go on sale by online auction are valued at between $53,000 and $70,000 each. They will go to the highest bidders.
The 10 back-row lottery parcels will be sold at a fixed price of between $45,000 and $60,000 each.
The municipality took ownership of the property in 1996. The land had been used by the Bureau of Indian Affairs Wrangell Institute boarding school, which closed in 1975.
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