In February, the non-profit Kenai Performers theatre troupe asked the city of Kenai to donate land on which the group could build a theatre. At its Wednesday meeting, the Kenai city council introduced a direction for city manager Rick Koch to begin negotiating the donation.
The city administration identified three plots of city land, each approximately 2 acres, that could be donated. One plot is located at the intersection of the Kenai Spur Highway and Evergreen street. Another, also on Evergreen, is further away from the Kenai Spur Highway, and a third is at the intersection of Redoubt Avenue and Nightingale Street.
Each property is located in a rural residential zone and would have to be re-zoned for light commercial use to allow for the Kenai Performers’ theater.
In a memo to the council, Koch wrote that the land on Evergreen away from the Kenai Spur was the preferred donation. Phil Morin, vice-president of the Kenai Performers, said that the Kenai Performers also favored this location because it would have the visibility and easy access of the highway without requiring entrances and exits directly to the highway.
“Plus they have those god-awful looking power-lines (at the Evergreen and Kenai Spur Intersection), which aesthetically is offensive,” Morin said. “So by putting us back, we might be able to have a little more landscaping.”
President of the Kenai Performers Board of Directors Sally Cassanos said that plans to bring to the negotiations would be made at the Performers’ next board meeting.
“Now the details are going to be ironed out,” Cassanos said. “Such as the time-line of when the building has to take place… before the end of the month, we’ll be meeting with our architect, and we do have some designs we’re looking at.”
At its next meeting on May 6, the council will vote on whether to issue the direction for negotiation to Koch.
Reach Ben Boettger at ben.boettger@peninsulaclarion.com.
