Why Soldotna opted not to buy Birch Ridge

  • By Kelly Sullivan
  • Thursday, April 24, 2014 2:49pm
  • News

The Soldotna City Council decided against purchasing the Birch Ridge Golf Course.  

A resolution instructing City Manager Mark Dixson to negotiate an agreement for the purchase of the land and water rights failed 4 to 2, with Linda Murphy and Pete Sprague voting in favor. The purchase would have cost the city $800,000, Dixson said.

Birch Ridge 0wner Pat Cowan, and general manager Nolan Rose proposed a drafted lease to the council, in a joint session, prior to the regularly scheduled meeting, Wednesday, April 23.

The proposal contained language specifying that the city would hire Rose as the facilities operator once it had purchased the land. Rose would then have been responsible for all liabilities, leaving the city with no further financial responsibility.

Rose would only be able to sell the land as a golf course if he were to retire. The plan has been in the works for almost a year between Patrick and Myrna. Cowan, real estate agent Wes drown and Mark Dixson.

Rose said he would support whatever plans the council chose to pursue as long as it meant keeping the course open. However, he said, his proposition would be easier than the city buying the land and pursuing a lease.

“I think there is agreement from both sides, that’s not an advantageous way to go,” Rose said.

Cowan said he would personally back Rose financially, if Rose were to bid on the contract.

Dixson said the contract would not be competitive enough for other companies to make a bid for. The council would be entering into a sole-source deal if they agreed to pass the resolution, he said.  

Mayor Nels Anderson asked the audience twice if there was anyone who wanted to speak against the purchase.

“We’ve received unanimous emails in favor,”Anderson said. No one rose to speak against the resolution.

At the end of the joint session, community supporters of the purchase immediately flooded the council meeting room, filling it to capacity.

Paul Whitney, who voted against the resolution, said it was a tough decision for him as he knowsmany supporters and belongs to local organizations that supported the resolution.

The crowd left after the resolution failed. Only a handful of seats remained filled in the council chambers.

Cowan said he was disappointed in the vote and said it would be a few days before he would be able to decide how to proceed.

Murphy, who had introduced the resolution, and said it’s failure would be the “death knell for the golf course.” The council had passed the chance simply to look at what kind of contract would even be possible, she said.

 

Council member Keith Baxter urged Cowan and Rose to look into thed the possibility of a grant from the Rasmussen Foundation.

The foundation has contributed funding to the Sterling Community Center, Kenai Peninsula Community Care Center’s gymnasium and the Soldotna Teen Center.

Council Member Meggean Bos said one of her biggest concerns was whether Soldotna residents wanted the city to purchased the land. Once the resolution failed she asked the Cowans to consider harnessing the overwhelming community support and to form a co-operative ownership and keep the course open.

 “Just because this has been voted down doesn’t mean we’re not willing to work with you and see if there isn’t a solution out there that we haven’t looked at,” said Dixson, facing Cowan and a few supporters who remained until the end of the meeting.

Cowan stood and personally thanked the members of the council for their consideration.

“Whether you voted for in favor or not, it doesn’t matter,” he said.

More in News

Syverine Bentz, coastal training program coordinator for the Kachemak Bay Research Reserve, displays a board of ideas during a Local Solutions meeting focused on salmon at the Cook Inletkeeper Community Action Studio in Soldotna, Alaska, on Monday, Feb. 10, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
In search of salmon solutions

Cook Inletkeeper hosts meeting to develop community project to help salmon.

Lisa Gabriel, left, watches as beach seine nets are pulled from the waters of Cook Inlet at a test site for the gear near Kenai, Alaska, on Tuesday, July 30, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
CFEC to consider seines for east side setnet fishery

The change is contingent on the State Board of Fisheries approving the gear during their March meeting.

A map of 2025 construction projects scheduled for the Kenai Peninsula. (Provided by Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities)
Department of Transportation announces construction plans

Most of the projects include work to various major highways.

Seward City Hall is seen under cloudy skies in Seward, Alaska, on Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Seward adds full-time staffer for recently restarted teen rec room

Seward’s Parks and Recreation Department reclaimed responsibility for teen programming at the start of this year.

Gavin Ley stands with the “Go-Shopping Kart” he designed and built in his career and technical education courses at Nikiski Middle/High School in Nikiski, Alaska, on Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Nikiski students learn professional skills through technical education

Career and technical education gives students opportunity to learn skills, express themselves creatively, work cooperatively and make decisions.

Nikiski teachers, students and parents applaud Nikiski Middle/High Principal Mike Crain as he’s recognized as the Alaska Association of Secondary School Principals 2025 Region III Principal of the Year by the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District’s Board of Education during their meeting in Soldotna, Alaska, on Monday, Feb. 3, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Nikiski principal named Region III principal of the year

Crain has served as Nikiski’s principal for three years.

An 86 pound Kenai River king salmon is measured in Soldotna, Alaska, on June 29, 1995. (M. Scott Moon/Peninsula Clarion File)
Kenai River king salmon fishing closed entirely for 3rd year

Kenai River king salmon were designated a stock of management concern in 2023.

The Kenai Peninsula College Main Entrance on Aug. 18, 2022, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
University of Alaska Board of Regents to meet in Soldotna

The last time the board met on the Kenai Peninsula was April 2012.

Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Board of Education member Penny Vadla and student representative Emerson Kapp speak to the joint Alaska House and Senate education committees in Juneau, Alaska, on Monday, Feb. 10, 2025. (Screenshot courtesy Gavel Alaska/KTOO)
KPBSD among dozens of districts to deliver in-person testimony to Alaska Legislature

Districts spotlighted programs already lost over years of stagnant funding that hasn’t met inflationary pressure.

Most Read