KETCHIKAN -- The University of Alaska Jan. 14 signed a deed transferring 145 acres of land near Ketchikan to a local logging company.
The land, sold to Alcan Forest Products, stretches from Herring Cove to Mountain Point.
Residents along that portion of South Tongass Highway protested the sale and formed Locals for Responsible Land Use, which had threatened to sue the university if it proceeded with the transaction.
They said the selling price was 40 percent lower than the Ketchikan Gateway Borough's assessed value of $440,000 and that the university did not advertise the sale in Ketchikan, but only in Anchorage, Fairbanks and Juneau.
Joe Beedle, UA vice president for finance, said Jan. 16 that officials examined residents' objections, along with its own land sale process, and found the university to be in compliance and in a binding agreement.
"It is a completed transaction from our point of view," Beedle said.
The university sought a minimum bid of $129,000, he said, or about $900 an acre. The buyer offered $175,000, or $1,200 an acre.
"That was $45,000 more than the minimum bid and the buyer paid in cash," Beedle said.
"This is about a land grant trust parcel that we have an obligation to convert to support the university," Beedle said.
The money goes into an endowment, in perpetuity, by law. The endowment currently funds the Alaska Scholars program that supports scholarships for the top 10 percent of Alaskan high school students who apply for admission at the university.
From a public relations viewpoint, the university has learned a lesson from the episode, Beedle said.
"Upon review, we will enhance our notification process in the future," he said. "It triples our cost of advertising but we consider that a necessary expense of doing business."
