A potential investor interested in purchasing some of the University of Alaska land slated for a proposed timber sale approached the Haines Economic Development Corp. for assistance last week — but nothing came of the meeting, corporation board members said.
The HEDC board of directors met in executive session June 8 to discuss “recent developments in the proposed UA timber sale.” Larry Talbert, who went to middle school in Haines and has returned to live here, was invited into the meeting with the board, Mayor Jan Hill and borough planner Holly Smith.
HEDC executive director Margaret Friedenauer said Talbert was interested in forming an investor group and, with the help of HEDC, making an offer to the university to purchase or manage lands slated for the timber sale to bolster local economic development.
Talbert, who worked under former Alaska Gov. Jay Hammond in the 1970s and later for the Anchorage Heritage Land Bank, said the investor group formed too late.
“We got into the game a little late because the university had already put things in motion. It seems we just ran out of time to honestly put this project together with integrity,” Talbert said. He said he had a group of friends willing to invest if the idea moved forward.
At the board’s June 14 special meeting, HEDC board member Sean Gaffney said that after doing research, he didn’t find “real substance behind the initiative that we initially thought and hoped there would be. … If it was something we wanted to pursue, we would be by and large starting from scratch.”
Board president Heather Shade said HEDC will continue to talk to the university “to work with their process to bring more economic value to Haines.”
Separate from Talbert’s initiative, the corporation sent a letter to the University of Alaska board of regents, in part asking whether the university might sell its lands outright rather than holding them for a timber sale: “If there are parcels of this sale that would benefit the university to sell outright rather than hold for timber or resource sales, HEDC may be interested in working with the university and community to facilitate the sale and management of the lands to the benefit of local community’s economic and planning goals.”
Assuming the university proceeds with its planned timber sale, the letter asked the university to consider negotiating with the buyer to require that some land and timber be dedicated to processing by a Haines-based business.
HEDC also submitted a scoping document to the university lands department last month, compiled by planner Smith and Friedenauer and reviewed by the assembly, asking the university to consider partnering with HEDC to complete a thorough economic analysis of the timber sale. “The information gathered through an analysis will aid the community of Haines and the university in long-range planning to maximize economic benefits and profits.”
Friedenauer added that the economic analysis could pinpoint things the community should plan for if the timber sale goes forward, like employee housing and infrastructure.
At the June 14 HEDC meeting, Mayor Jan Hill said she thinks the assembly has been adversarial toward the timber sale and she was glad the HEDC board is willing to work with the university instead of “pummeling” them with negative feedback.
“I like the approach of being more friendly,” Hill said. “We need to quit being the get-in-your-face kind of people that sometimes we are. … (The university) is tired of being beat up. Here’s a body that wants to work with them.”
HEDC will meet again at 3 p.m. Friday, June 22 in assembly chambers.