By Xi Chen | Cronkite News Service
The U.S. House voted overwhelmingly Monday to approve a bill to fix a federal surveying error that had put homes of some residents of the Mountainaire subdivision partly in the Coconino National Forest.
The bill, sponsored by Reps. Ann Kirkpatrick, D-Flagstaff, and Paul Gosar, R-Prescott, would allow 25 Coconino County homeowners to buy back those parts of their property that are currently on federal land.
The bill passed with no debate Monday evening on a 395-1 vote.
“These folks have been in limbo for too long, so today’s House vote is a big step forward,” Kirkpatrick said in a statement after the vote.
“Congressman Gosar and I are working together to offer a common-sense solution, and we are eager to get this done for the people of Coconino County,” she said in her statement.
The issue began in 1960, when a federal survey of the national forest incorrectly listed some of the land as private, not federal, property. Based on that survey, homes were built and sold in Mountainaire for decades.
