Two measures aimed at improving the esthetics of Kenai commanded the full attention of the city council for a time Wednesday night. One seeking to stop clear cutting lots passed after being amended; one seeking to dress up storage sheds was put on hold.
The Kenai City Council passed Ordinance 2288-2008, which prohibits developers from clearing trees and natural vegetation from land in commercial and industrial areas of Kenai where removal would result in less than 25 percent of the land having existing trees, shrubs or natural vegetation without first obtaining approval of a preliminary landscaping and site plan.
Before being amended, the ordinance would have applied to residential areas of the city as well.
Speaking against the ordinance in its unaltered form, Clint Hall, of Hall Quality Builders, said the site plan requirement could delay the permitting process and "seriously impact the building business."
He suggested having builders meet with council members in a work session to formulate a more agreeable plan.
Addressing the perceived delay, City Planner Marilyn Kebschull said Kenai Municipal Code calls for an administrative official to review the landscaping and site plan and take action within 14 days.
She said the goal of the ordinance was to assure individuals do not clear land and cause an undesirable effect on adjoining property.
Council members Barry Eldridge and Rick Ross said they had problems with applying the landscaping and site plan requirements to residential property, and Eldridge offered an amendment removing residential. The amendment passed on a 5-3 vote and the amended ordinance passed unanimously.
Formerly the landscaping and site plan requirement kicked in when 85 percent of existing trees and vegetation were to be removed. The new rule sets the mark at 75 percent.
Ordinance 2287-2008, which would place a number of restrictions on accessory structures and the use of Conex-type boxes as storage sheds, was postponed in order to give Kenai residents another opportunity to present concerns with the new rules.
Among the restrictions is one requiring that accessory structures be built to match the primary building on the lot.
Ross said he interpreted that to mean most sheds would have to be custom-built.
"This should be more directed to subdivision covenants," Ross said.
He also said, in driving through town with the proposed ordinance in mind, he saw many attractive sheds that would not comply with the proposed restrictions.
Kenai resident Bob Peters told the council Alaskans are required to have "a lot of stuff" such as snow throwers on their property.
If the Conexes are not allowed, he feared the "less wealthy (residents) will be forced to leave their stuff in the yard."
He also suggested the city council was enacting an "unfunded mandate like you guys complain about (other agencies enacting)."
Peters wanted to know if existing Conex-type storage boxes would be grandfathered in.
City Manager Rick Koch answered by saying, "They will become non-conforming uses, but people will not have to remove them."
"This (ordinance) seems quite onerous," said Councilman Hal Smalley. "I would ask we bring it back a second time for a public hearing."
Eldridge moved to postpone action until the next city council meeting. No one objected.
Some council members expressed surprise that no residents testified during public hearings on final assessments for paving work completed last year on Set Net Drive; Aliak, McCollum and Japonski streets; and Angler Drive.
A public hearing laying out assessments for street paving in the Thompson Park Subdivision this year also failed to draw comment.
One property owner, Martha E. Thompson Anderson, whose parents originally homesteaded the land, mailed in her objection to the improvement, which she said results in "no real benefit at all" for one of her lots, which has minimal road frontage.
The work is to include excavation, back fill and grading, asphalt paving, topsoil and seeding, signage and traffic control.
Property owners benefiting from the work will be assessed for 50 percent of the cost of the improvements.
In other business, the council approved a resolution seeking relief from the state Legislature regarding recently approved Alaska Public Office Commission financial disclosure requirements.
The city council would like to see an amended statute "more appropriate for municipal elected and appointed officials."
Mayor Pat Porter, who participated in Wednesday's meeting telephonically, suggested writing a letter to legislators opposing a plan to move the Department of Fish and Game office from Soldotna to Anchorage.
Porter's motion was approved unanimously.
Phil Hermanek can be reached at phillip.hermanek@peninsulaclarion.com.
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