Kenai

Courtesy of Kenai Peninsula Borough/Modified by Peninsula Clarion This map from the Kenai Peninsula Borough parcel viewer shows the proposed boundary of the Airport Reserve - land legally dedicated to the Kenai Municipal Airport - shaded in blue. The present Airport Reserve also includes the nine lots shaded in green, most of which belong to the city of Kenai but could be sold into private hands if the Airport Reserve is moved. The Kenai Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously endorsed the move at their Wednesday meeting, and the Kenai City Council will hold a hearing and vote on it in the future.

Kenai airport reserve boundary may move

Editor's note: This story has been changed to include the date of the Kenai City Council's hearing and vote on the boundary move.  The Kenai… Continue reading

Courtesy of Kenai Peninsula Borough/Modified by Peninsula Clarion This map from the Kenai Peninsula Borough parcel viewer shows the proposed boundary of the Airport Reserve - land legally dedicated to the Kenai Municipal Airport - shaded in blue. The present Airport Reserve also includes the nine lots shaded in green, most of which belong to the city of Kenai but could be sold into private hands if the Airport Reserve is moved. The Kenai Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously endorsed the move at their Wednesday meeting, and the Kenai City Council will hold a hearing and vote on it in the future.
In this Dec. 23, 2015 photo, Dr. Michael Merrick talks to a patient about her addiction as she comes in to get her prescription of Suboxone, a medicine used to treat opioid addictions, in Merrick’s office in Kenai, Alaska. (Clarion file photo)

Longtime Kenai doctor sells practice to addiction medicine provider

A longtime Kenai doctor has sold his practice to a company operating clinics focused on medically assisted opioid treatment. Ideal Option, a Washington-based health care… Continue reading

In this Dec. 23, 2015 photo, Dr. Michael Merrick talks to a patient about her addiction as she comes in to get her prescription of Suboxone, a medicine used to treat opioid addictions, in Merrick’s office in Kenai, Alaska. (Clarion file photo)

Kenai water and sewer tax exemption fails

A proposal to exempt Kenai’s residential water and sewer services from city sales taxes failed at Wednesday night’s Kenai city council meeting. Of the council’s… Continue reading

Local governments try again for central peninsula fish board meeting

Editor's note: This story has been changed to clarify the Board of Fish's meeting location decision at their October 2017 worksession. Advocates are again seeking… Continue reading

Kenai city planner to return south

In summer 2014 Matt Kelley came from a county planner’s office in California to become Kenai’s city planner. In February he’ll be returning to county-level… Continue reading

Kenai council discusses dipnet vendors

Kenai council discusses dipnet vendors

As Kenai’s city government more actively attempts to make the summer dipnet fishery a boost to the local economy, beach vendors may be getting some… Continue reading

Kenai council discusses dipnet vendors
Kenaitze Indian Tribe Executive Director Bart Garber poses for a photograph at the tribe’s administration building Thursday, Dec. 28, 2017 in Kenai, Alaska. Garber, who grew up in Tyonek and Anchorage and worked with the Tyonek Native Corporation and the Toghotthele Corporation in Nenana, took over the position with Kenaitze this fall. (Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion)

New Kenaitze executive director envisions active tribal engagement

Although it’s a new office and staff, taking the job as the Kenaitze Indian Tribe’s CEO is in some ways a homecoming for Bart Garber.… Continue reading

Kenaitze Indian Tribe Executive Director Bart Garber poses for a photograph at the tribe’s administration building Thursday, Dec. 28, 2017 in Kenai, Alaska. Garber, who grew up in Tyonek and Anchorage and worked with the Tyonek Native Corporation and the Toghotthele Corporation in Nenana, took over the position with Kenaitze this fall. (Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion)

Kenai bluff project gained ground in 2017

In 2017, the mile of bluff between Old Town Kenai and the Kenai River mouth may have receded three feet — the amount of ground… Continue reading

Central Kenai pot store permitted on second try

A strip mall location in central Kenai is both a blessing and a curse for the planned marijuana retailer East Rip, whose city permit was… Continue reading

A smartphone user interacts with the Dipnet Kenai app — created by the city of Kenai for the 2017 dipnet fishery — on Wednesday, Dec. 13 at the Peninsual Clarion office in Kenai. In its debut year, the app had 8,474 downloads. (Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion)

Dipnet Kenai app looks back on debut year

Kenai is shifting the emphasis of how it manages the roughly 20,000 personal-use dipnet fishermen who come to town from July 10–31 from merely keeping… Continue reading

A smartphone user interacts with the Dipnet Kenai app — created by the city of Kenai for the 2017 dipnet fishery — on Wednesday, Dec. 13 at the Peninsual Clarion office in Kenai. In its debut year, the app had 8,474 downloads. (Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion)

Kenai reviews 2017 dipnet

Editor's note: This story has been changed to correct the number of dipnet transactions in 2013. When the Kenai city council took its annual look… Continue reading

The Kenai home school team ‘Aqua Intelligence’ won top prize for core values on Saturday at the First Lego League competition held at the Aurora Borealis Charter School in Kenai. The event recognized awards in five categories. The champion’s award, project award, core values award, robot design award and robot performance award. The core values award recognizes a team that excels in inspiration, teamwork and gracious professionalism. The ‘Aqua Intelligence’ team showed “extraordinary enthusiasm and spirit” and understand that they can “accomplish more together than they could as individuals.” (Photo by Kat Sorensen/ Peninsula Clarion)

LEGO Water World

Students from across the Kenai Peninsula took on a big challenge, innovating the field of hydrodynamics, and they did it with LEGOs. This Saturday, the… Continue reading

The Kenai home school team ‘Aqua Intelligence’ won top prize for core values on Saturday at the First Lego League competition held at the Aurora Borealis Charter School in Kenai. The event recognized awards in five categories. The champion’s award, project award, core values award, robot design award and robot performance award. The core values award recognizes a team that excels in inspiration, teamwork and gracious professionalism. The ‘Aqua Intelligence’ team showed “extraordinary enthusiasm and spirit” and understand that they can “accomplish more together than they could as individuals.” (Photo by Kat Sorensen/ Peninsula Clarion)

Eyes on the sky

The Kenai Municipal Airport will be getting a quartet of publicly accessible, real-time cameras, meant to allow pilots planning a flight into Kenai to see… Continue reading

Kenai to examine land policy Wednesday

Editor's note: This story has been changed to clarify council member Mike Boyle's 2006 vote on creating the airport reserve.  On Wednesday, Kenai city council… Continue reading

This map, included in a report presented at Kenai’s Nov. 29 worksession on land management, highlights in blue the 353 lots of land owned by Kenai’s city government - equal to about a third of the city’s area. Policy reforms proposed at the worksession may lead to a plan for selling unused city land.

Land reforms possible for Kenai in 2018

Land policy revisions that the Kenai city council will be considering next year could bring big changes in Kenai’s dealings with those seeking to use… Continue reading

This map, included in a report presented at Kenai’s Nov. 29 worksession on land management, highlights in blue the 353 lots of land owned by Kenai’s city government - equal to about a third of the city’s area. Policy reforms proposed at the worksession may lead to a plan for selling unused city land.
A visit from St. Nicholas

A visit from St. Nicholas

’Twas the day before last when all through Kenai People were clamoring to meet one jolly guy. His suit was red and his beard was… Continue reading

A visit from St. Nicholas
Owner Jeanie Carter of the Curiosity Shop poses among her merchandise on Monday, Nov. 27, 2017 in Kenai, Alaska. Like many small business owners in Kenai and Soldotna, Carter said the Thanksgiving weekend drew a lot of customers to her store, which offers gifts with local history that aren’t available in larger chain stores. (Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion)

Gift-seekers visit local businesses on Thanksgiving weekend

A very chilly Black Friday found crowds peering into handmade pottery mugs, flipping through racks of hand-sewn scarves and jackets and chatting with artists at… Continue reading

Owner Jeanie Carter of the Curiosity Shop poses among her merchandise on Monday, Nov. 27, 2017 in Kenai, Alaska. Like many small business owners in Kenai and Soldotna, Carter said the Thanksgiving weekend drew a lot of customers to her store, which offers gifts with local history that aren’t available in larger chain stores. (Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion)

Kenai acquiring land for bluff erosion

Kenai’s municipal government is steadily buying the land necessary for a planned mile-long rock berm meant to halt the three-feet-per-year erosion wearing away the ground… Continue reading

Crash in Turnagain Pass sends 1 to hospital

Report says meth use up across state

Alongside the national conversation over the opioid epidemic, Alaskan health professionals are seeing a rise in methamphetamine use. A study released Tuesday by the Alaska… Continue reading

Crash in Turnagain Pass sends 1 to hospital
A crew from Gebhardt Construction puts metal siding on a Kenai building — erected as office space in 1968 but vacant since the mid-1980s, and now set to open in early 2018 as an Extreme Fun Center amusement hall and arcade — on Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2017 in Kenai, Alaska. John Schweiger, whose company Coming Attractions Theatres has owned the building and the adjacent Kenai Cinema since May, said crews are finishing the exterior before colder weather sets in, and will spend the winter refurbishing the inside, so the center “will hopefully be open for spring break.” Coming Attractions is “about 80 to 90 percent” through the process of deciding what attractions the center will feature, Schweiger said. (Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion)

Kenai arcade in progress

A crew from Gebhardt Construction puts metal siding on a Kenai building — erected as office space in 1968 but vacant since the mid-1980s, and… Continue reading

A crew from Gebhardt Construction puts metal siding on a Kenai building — erected as office space in 1968 but vacant since the mid-1980s, and now set to open in early 2018 as an Extreme Fun Center amusement hall and arcade — on Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2017 in Kenai, Alaska. John Schweiger, whose company Coming Attractions Theatres has owned the building and the adjacent Kenai Cinema since May, said crews are finishing the exterior before colder weather sets in, and will spend the winter refurbishing the inside, so the center “will hopefully be open for spring break.” Coming Attractions is “about 80 to 90 percent” through the process of deciding what attractions the center will feature, Schweiger said. (Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion)