Property Value Compensation Measure Shot Down In Alaska

6 October 2007 - 5:00am

An Alaska property rights measure that would have required the government to compensate landowners for any public projects that reduce property values was defeated by more than a 2-to-1 margin.

"Tuesday’s Mat-Su Borough election resulted in a sound defeat for Prop. 1, a controversial land-use measure that sparked vocal and heated debate in the weeks leading up to Election Day. Mat-Su Taxpayers Against Prop. 1 called the results a victory for public planning as Borough voters turned down the Private Property Protection Act by a margin of 4,585 votes. Of the 10,846 who cast ballots Tuesday, 7,658 — 70.6 percent — were against Prop. 1. Overall, 3,073 were in favor of the measure."

"Titled the Private Property Protection Act, Prop.1 was sponsored by locals Penny Nixon and Dennis Oakland of the Mat-Su Taxpayers Association. Prop. 1 was written as an effort to halt the Mat-Su Borough passing “extreme” land use regulations by making the Borough pay landowners for any reduction in property valuation resulting from its actions, Oakland said."

Source: Mat Su Valley Frontiersman, October 3, 2007
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