RELOCATION
In 1953, the option to relocate was put to a vote to the residents of Kivalina. The vote was split with half wanting to remain and the other half to move. Obviously, the people were to remain in Kivalina based on that election. At that time, the village was 54 acres in size. Over time, because of erosion activities, the village shrank to less then 27 acres from erosion activity up to today. Because of the activity, space became a problem.
On November 22, 1991, a meeting was held by the Kivalina City Council and during that meeting, Resolution 91-17 was introduced and adopted to conduct a survey on whether to relocate the village or not. A special election was held on February 25, 1992 stating a reason of population growth and the majority voted to move. On the ballot, the question was as follows: "Shall the City of Kivalina begin the process of relocating the village to solve various environmental problems?" On February 28, 1992, a report of the special election resulted in 79 residents voting with a yea vote of 72 and a nay vote of 7.
On February 26, 1998, a vote was cast and certified on the site selection of the following places: Igrugaivik (Wulik River) Site A with 85 votes, Imnaaquq (Kivalina River) Site B with 25 votes, and Current site (Kivalina) Site C with 19 votes. Resolution 98-02 stated as follows: A RESOLUTION OF THE JOINT MEETING OF THE KIVALINA IRA AND CITY COUNCIL AND RELOCATION COMMITTEE CERTIFYING THE SPECIAL ELECTION OF FEBRUARY 26, 1998. The election was certified March 6, 1998 with the following signatures: Kivalina IRA Council President Jerry R. Norton and Mida Swan, Secretary; Kivalina City Council Oran Knox Sr., President and Marilyn Swan, City Clerk; Relocation Committee Chair Austin Swan Sr. and Joseph Swan Sr., Secretary.
After studies done by the US Army Corp of Engineers, it was discovered that the site Igrugiavik was mostly ice underneath the ground so another vote was done to select another site. On April 10, 2000, a special election was held. The list of sites were as follows: Kiniktuuraq (Across channel) Site A with 53 votes, Imnaaquq (Kivalina River) Site B with 32 votes, Current Site (Kivalina) Site C with 8 votes and Igrugaivik (Wulik River) Site D with 6 votes. On April 11, 2000, a joint meeting was held between the Kivalina IRA Council, Kivalina City Council and the Relocation Planning Committee in which Resolution 00-01 was adopted certifying the election with the following signatures as follows: Kivalina IRA Council, David E. Swan, President and Mida Swan, Secretary; Kivalina City Council, Galen H. Swan, Vice Mayor and Marilyn Swan, City Clerk; Kivalina Relocation Planning Committee, Enoch Adams Jr., Chairman and Joseph Swan Sr., Secretary.
On November 6, 2001, a special election was held for the Kivalina Relocation/Layout Selection. On the ballot were two concepts for the village layout: Concept #6 (A) with 32 votes and Concept #7 (B) with 47 votes with a total of 79 votes.
By the year 2000, Department of Transportation (DOT) had all their studies done and was ready to move ahead to have the airport built at the new site. Included in that project was the barge access road and the road leading to the airport. The village was to begin the move by 2006 according to the Master Plan but delays began piling up. There came opposition from the US Army Corps of Engineers. They opposed Kiniktuuraq site as the new relocation site and began to push Tatchim Isau and Imnaaquq Bluffs. The relocation project came to a screeching halt. Many issues began to pile up against the Kiniktuuraq site, including Climate Change and the costs of gravel. As the fight progressed, there developed a new problem. Kivalina began to erode.
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