Jurisdictions are colliding on Kenai’s Wildwood Drive, where stakeholders agree major maintenance is needed but are in disagreement over who should take up that responsibility.
The road, more than 50 years old, is pocked with potholes and cracks and has long been identified by the City of Kenai as being in need of repair. Kenai Public Works Director Scott Curtin told city council members in March that he has correspondence about deteriorating road conditions on Wildwood Drive going back to 1999.
The City of Kenai asked the State of Alaska earlier this year to help pay for maintenance of Wildwood Drive because it is used consistently by people trying to access Wildwood Correctional Complex. The road also, though, services Kenai residents, whose driveways terminate on the road.
That is on top of the fact the road sits on land owned by the Kenai Native Association, who say a long-term fix to an ongoing problem is overdue. Jim Butler, who spoke on behalf of the association during Wednesday’s council meeting, said the association wants a seat at the table when it comes to decisions made about Wildwood Drive.
“Imagine acquiring a piece of property and when you acquire that piece of property, there’s a road on it and the people, the state, nobody ever went through and made sure that that road had proper custody and ownership and responsibility,” Butler said. “So now what we find is, the city has inherited responsibility for this road, but it’s on (Kenai Native Association) property.”
Butler said the association recognizes that having a safe road is in the best interests of everyone. However, they’re reluctant to support improvements that “take the pressure off … the state” and others who they say should help find a long-term solution.
“Please understand that the owners of that property would like to be good citizens, but they also are very reluctant to allow a million dollar — potentially — improvement on their property on a road where people transit back and forth and they’re technically on their property,” Butler said.
Solutions to the cyclical conversation of who should bear responsibility for keeping the road updated, Butler said, could be solved by the city or state purchasing the property currently owned by the Kenai Native Association or having the road go through a separate piece of property. Either way, those are bigger decisions Butler said should be made before any major investments are made.
“So basically … let’s keep it bad enough to where we’re constantly asking for permission until you can get paid for it?” council member Alex Douthit asked Butler. “Is that basically what I’m hearing?”
“That’s one way of saying it,” Butler said. “I don’t know if I would agree with it.”
Curtin told council members Wednesday that the road, while not technically unsafe, is “highly inconvenient.” He estimated that the city spends between $10,000 and $20,000 annually on Wildwood Drive maintenance, such as placing hot patches, and that the current upkeep efforts are minimal.
“We’re putting a band-aid on what we’ve done and I’m happy to continue doing that and we’ve been doing it, certainly, for years,” Curtin said Wednesday. “But my intentions on doing that were for that reason — to not be spending $20,000, $30,000, $40,000 on a road in anticipation of a larger project coming.”
Council members appeared generally supportive of continuing the maintenance work the city is already doing, with a goal of getting lawyers from all stakeholders together to determine the best path forward. Douthit proposed holding a council work session to talk about the issue, which he said has been kicked down the road for too long.
“I would highly encourage some kind of a work session to continue to come up with ideas on how we’re gonna get to resolve this sooner than later,” he said. “It’s been a long process and it’s not changing anything. We’re pretty much status quo, it sounds like, for the last 18 years and I think we can do better than that.”
Wednesday’s Kenai City Council meeting can be streamed on the city’s YouTube channel.
Reach reporter Ashlyn O’Hara at ashlyn.ohara@peninsulaclarion.com.
