In a recent Op-Ed for the Anchorage Daily News, Sam Spiegelman, attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation provides an update on SB 77.
In the article he advocates that “the term “blight” must be precisely defined, and narrowly applied.”
Spiegelman discuss the original Senate Bill, the revamped House Bill and provides a comparison to Washington and Georgia law.
“While truly blighted properties — ones that are vectors for disease, crime, and other public dangers — can be of real concern, current nuisance laws empower local governments in Alaska to force owners to fix them. Officials could use more weapons to combat blight, but blanket permission to designate anything they wish as such is simply too great a power to entrust in the hands of municipal bureaucrats.”
To view the Op-Ed, please click here.