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Several property owners from the proposed south Kalifornsky Beach Road utility special assessment district voiced their opinions at Tuesday's Borough Assembly meeting, but it was too late. Resolution 2008-089 already had failed on a tie 4-to-4 vote, with Charlie Pierce abstaining, before public comment was heard.

President Milli Martin said because public comment was heard during the Dec. 2 meeting, the assembly did not need to hear anyone else from the pubic before voting on the resolution.

Had the resolution passed, property owners from the proposed USAD would have received a natural gas main line courtesy of Enstar. The borough would have financed the project, having neighbors split the cost between them.

Ron Long, of Seward, said even those neighbors that wouldn't have been able to tap into the line, along with those that might have chosen not to tap into it, would be responsible for paying their share of the cost of the project, an estimated $219,500, amounting to a per-parcel cost of just under $3,000. It would have involved installation of 7,350 feet of 2-inch pipe and 6,830 feet of 4-inch pipe.

If a property owner was unable to pay, it would have been the borough's responsibility to foreclose their properties. Long, who opposed the resolution, said he wasn't comfortable subjecting people to a risk of foreclosure or property loss to install a utility that the borough would have had no control over.

At last count, Martin said the project had 74 percent approval among property owners, surpassing the required 70 percent threshold.

"This whole country functions on a majority, even a supermajority, to make sure that one or two people don't control the entire community," said Michael Hicks, a resident speaking on behalf of the project. Hicks said several USADs have been passed, none with 100 percent of the vote, that he was aware of.

"There are a lot of issues that need to be worked out," said Pierce, who abstained from voting due to his employment with Enstar. "I challenge you to come up with a better and more fair way," he said, adressing the assembly as a member of the public.

"The process may be wrong, but I think you're more wrong in denying the people who were for this," said concerned citizen Vern Cummings.

At its previous meeting, the assembly postponed action on the USAD in question until March 3. Borough Mayor Dave Carey vetoed the postponement, and after a vote to override the veto failed, the USAD was back in front of the assembly.

"I wanted to give (the assembly) a chance to go ahead with this and keep the price down to those people," Carey said.

Carey said Enstar offered to keep the original estimate for the project on the table until Jan. 7. After that date, Enstar said the project's cost would increase by 40 percent.

The assembly also voted against Ordinance 2008-35, seeking to amend the existing road improvement assessment districts.

If passed, the ordinance would have included construction of new roads, allowing neighbors to share the cost.

"This amendment is designed to allow a person to get together with his neighbor and property owners to share the cost in building a road to standards," said Scott Bloom, spokesman from mayor Carey's office. "It often costs more to fix a bad road at times than to build a new road."

A 5-to-4 vote against the ordinance was cast.

Though it didn't appear on the agenda, much of the public comment during the meeting focused on the Spruce Bark Beetle Mitigation Program.

Carey said lobbyists' last requests were denied from the federal government and that no more funding would be supplied. He said there is about $1 million of unallocated funds left in the program and estimated the project will continue for at least two more years.

Carey said he wants to finish the program as efficiently as possible, citing one solution for that goal as having fewer "paper work people" who don't remove trees, providing more funding to those that do clear trees.

"We are not giving back any money, we are not breaking any contracts," he said. "We have $1 million, it is my responsibility as the executive of this borough to provide ideas to the assembly on how that last million should be used and I will absolutely meet my responsibilities."

"The Kenai Peninsula is a disaster waiting to happen," said Elisabeth Hallford, of Kasilof, during public comment on non-agenda items. "Why are you shutting down a program whose primary goal is to protect the largest investment most of your citizens have ever made? You should be supporting and expanding the program as to work with the Firewise program to involve everyone on the Kenai Peninsula in wildfire protection."

"It is real important that we maintain this fire protection and the spruce bark beetle (mitigation program) is the backbone of our fire protection," said Cohoe Loop resident Judy Jenkinson. "Don't just take 'no' for an answer from the feds. We need to fight this."

Assemblyman Hal Smalley, of Kenai, said more grant money for the project should be pursued. "It isn't going to go away, it's just going to get worse and what do we have to lose? Our homes, our communities and possibly lives."

Mike Nesper can be reached at mike.nesper@peninsulaclarion.com.