Kenai

The four-story Dragseth Mansion, which the Kenai municipal government sold on Wednesday to the transportation and contraction company PRL Logistics for $825,000, sits on Kenai’s south beach Friday, May 19, 2017 in Kenai. A concrete barrier blocks the southern end of a city-owned airstrip that PRL is also seeking to buy from Kenai, requiring a permit from the Kenai Planning and Zoning Commission that will be discussed May 24. The airstrip parallels the beach alongside the Kenai River flats, valuable habitat for migratory birds, prompting concern from birders and bird advocacy groups. (Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion)

Kenai sells mansion, will consider airstrip sale

The four-story, 7,556-square foot mansion on Kenai’s south beach belongs to the transportation and contracting company PRL Logistics, after the Kenai City Council unanimously sold… Continue reading

The four-story Dragseth Mansion, which the Kenai municipal government sold on Wednesday to the transportation and contraction company PRL Logistics for $825,000, sits on Kenai’s south beach Friday, May 19, 2017 in Kenai. A concrete barrier blocks the southern end of a city-owned airstrip that PRL is also seeking to buy from Kenai, requiring a permit from the Kenai Planning and Zoning Commission that will be discussed May 24. The airstrip parallels the beach alongside the Kenai River flats, valuable habitat for migratory birds, prompting concern from birders and bird advocacy groups. (Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion)
This screen capture from the city of Kenai’s live-feeding camera above a local eagle nest shows an eagle parent roosting with two eggs on Thursday, May 18, 2017 in Kenai, Alaska. Presently the eagle camera is streaming to Kenai City Hall, where administrators hope to raise the city’s profile by putting a live eagle feed online sometime in the coming weeks. (Screen capture courtesy of Jamie Heinz/City of Kenai)

Kenai eagle nest to stream live online

Update, Friday May 19, 11:00 a.m — The city of Kenai's eagle cam is now online and streaming at http://www.kenai.city/eaglecam​  When Kenai’s eagle camera begins… Continue reading

This screen capture from the city of Kenai’s live-feeding camera above a local eagle nest shows an eagle parent roosting with two eggs on Thursday, May 18, 2017 in Kenai, Alaska. Presently the eagle camera is streaming to Kenai City Hall, where administrators hope to raise the city’s profile by putting a live eagle feed online sometime in the coming weeks. (Screen capture courtesy of Jamie Heinz/City of Kenai)
William Konig of Kenai’s Parks and Recreation department tills the Field of Flowers, preparing it to be planted with wildflowers, on Wednesday, May 17 in Kenai. The Field of Flowers is part of a 16 acre city-owned strip known as Lawton Acres, which sits between the Kenai Spur Highway and a neighborhood to the south where residents have been fighting commercial development of the land since the late 1980s. On Monday, many spoke at a Kenai City Council work session about possible resolutions to the dispute.

Lawton Acres options include ballot proposition, land trade, purchase

Prompted by a standing-room only crowd in the Kenai City Council Chambers on Monday night, Kenai council members discussed options for concluding a 30-year dispute… Continue reading

William Konig of Kenai’s Parks and Recreation department tills the Field of Flowers, preparing it to be planted with wildflowers, on Wednesday, May 17 in Kenai. The Field of Flowers is part of a 16 acre city-owned strip known as Lawton Acres, which sits between the Kenai Spur Highway and a neighborhood to the south where residents have been fighting commercial development of the land since the late 1980s. On Monday, many spoke at a Kenai City Council work session about possible resolutions to the dispute.

Kenai residents surprised by cul-de-sac paving

Leslei Spalding was among six Kenai property-owners who recently received bills from the city for $6,274.58 — part of the cost of a paving project… Continue reading

This April 21 photo shows the cul-de-sac at the end of Kenai's VIP Drive, which the city paved in 2014. Kenai administrators billed cul-de-sac residents - whom they said had requested the paving by petition - for a share of the cost, creating a dispute with residents who denied requesting the paving. The dispute was resolved Wednesday with an agreement that reduced the cost to residents.

Mistaken pavement bill resolved

When property-owners on Kenai’s VIP Drive cul-de-sac were billed by the city for part of the cost of paving their road, they contested the bill,… Continue reading

This April 21 photo shows the cul-de-sac at the end of Kenai's VIP Drive, which the city paved in 2014. Kenai administrators billed cul-de-sac residents - whom they said had requested the paving by petition - for a share of the cost, creating a dispute with residents who denied requesting the paving. The dispute was resolved Wednesday with an agreement that reduced the cost to residents.

Kenai manager anticipates difficult future budgeting

Declining sales taxes, anticipated reductions in state revenue sharing and pension funding, the rearrangement of a state meal program, and a probable rise in the… Continue reading

Twenty three days into his job as Kenai City Manager, Paul Ostrander speaks about Kenai issues to a Kenai Chamber of Commerce audience during a talk on Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2017 at the Kenai Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Center. (Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion).

Ostrander speaks about Kenai issues

After 23 days as Kenai City Manager, Paul Ostrander spoke about his view of Kenai’s finances, policies, and future obstacles to an audience of Kenai… Continue reading

Twenty three days into his job as Kenai City Manager, Paul Ostrander speaks about Kenai issues to a Kenai Chamber of Commerce audience during a talk on Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2017 at the Kenai Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Center. (Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion).

Kenai airport struggles to perfect land agreements

The Kenai Municipal Airport earned a fifth of its revenue recorded in the city's present budget from payments made by businesses that lease the hundreds… Continue reading

A bufflehead duck flies between three drift boats of birders on Thursday, May 14, 2015 as the group tours the Kenai River during a long weekend of Kenai Birding Festival activities. (Clarion File Photo)

Birding festival takes flight May 18

Grab your binoculars, the annual Kenai Peninsula Birding Festival starts Thursday, May 18 and runs through Sunday, May 21 with different birding hot spots and… Continue reading

A bufflehead duck flies between three drift boats of birders on Thursday, May 14, 2015 as the group tours the Kenai River during a long weekend of Kenai Birding Festival activities. (Clarion File Photo)
John Michael, a member of Kenai’s Holy Assumption of the Virgin Mary Russian Orthodox Church, prepares to carry a damaged icon of Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane from the church’s sanctuary on Monday, May 15 in Kenai. In the foreground stands the wooden cross that fell backward during the January 2016 Iniskin Earthquake, tearing the icon’s canvas. After planning and fundraising for the icon’s repair since mid-2016, the church shipped it to an art restorer on Monday.

Kenai Russian church sends icon for restoration

John Michael, a member of Kenai’s Holy Assumption of the Virgin Mary Russian Orthodox Church, prepares to carry a damaged icon of Jesus praying in… Continue reading

John Michael, a member of Kenai’s Holy Assumption of the Virgin Mary Russian Orthodox Church, prepares to carry a damaged icon of Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane from the church’s sanctuary on Monday, May 15 in Kenai. In the foreground stands the wooden cross that fell backward during the January 2016 Iniskin Earthquake, tearing the icon’s canvas. After planning and fundraising for the icon’s repair since mid-2016, the church shipped it to an art restorer on Monday.
Photo by Ben Boettger/Peninsula ClarionThis icon of Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane sits behind the altar of Kenai's Holy Assumption of the Virgin Mary Russian Orthodox Church and was torn when a cross fell on it during the Jan. 24, 2016 Iniskin earthquake. It was photographed on Monday, Oct. 31 in Kenai. The church is raising funds to send the icon to a conservator in Colorado who will repair the rip, as well as an earlier candle burn above and to the right of the rip.

Earthquake-damaged icon to be repaired

When the Kenai Peninsula was shaken by the 7.1 magnitude Iniskin earthquake in the early hours of Jan. 24, one of the many things to… Continue reading

Photo by Ben Boettger/Peninsula ClarionThis icon of Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane sits behind the altar of Kenai's Holy Assumption of the Virgin Mary Russian Orthodox Church and was torn when a cross fell on it during the Jan. 24, 2016 Iniskin earthquake. It was photographed on Monday, Oct. 31 in Kenai. The church is raising funds to send the icon to a conservator in Colorado who will repair the rip, as well as an earlier candle burn above and to the right of the rip.

Kenai’s Russian Church to install fire system

Kenai’s Holy Assumption of the Virgin Mary Russian Orthodox Church is filled with religious art and historical artifacts, is built of logs, and hosts weekly… Continue reading

Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion Father Andrew Thomas of Kenai's Holy Assumption of the Virgin Mary Russian Orthodox Church speaks to the small congregation gathered for Divine Liturgy in the St. Nicholas Chapel on Saturday, Dec. 19 in Kenai. Behind him stands Father Victor Nick of Ninilchik. "There is no other church like this in Alaska," Father Thomas said of the chapel, which was built in 1906 over the graves of three missionary monks who came to the Kenai area in the mid-1800s.

Divine Liturgy for St. Nicholas held in Kenai’s historic chapel

The rough wooden interior of St. Nicholas chapel was lit by a hissing gas lantern as Father Andrew Thomas, priest of Kenai’s Holy Assumption of… Continue reading

Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion Father Andrew Thomas of Kenai's Holy Assumption of the Virgin Mary Russian Orthodox Church speaks to the small congregation gathered for Divine Liturgy in the St. Nicholas Chapel on Saturday, Dec. 19 in Kenai. Behind him stands Father Victor Nick of Ninilchik. "There is no other church like this in Alaska," Father Thomas said of the chapel, which was built in 1906 over the graves of three missionary monks who came to the Kenai area in the mid-1800s.
Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion Electrician Richard Cutter crawls through the roof space of Kenai's Holy Assumption of the Virgin Mary Russian Orthodox Church while installing a new fire supression system on Thursday, Oct. 6 in Kenai.

Kenai Russian Orthodox Church gets new fire supression system

A system designed to extinguish fires without damaging the Holy Assumption of the Virgin Mary Russian Orthodox Church’s collection of icons, art, and archived documents… Continue reading

Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion Electrician Richard Cutter crawls through the roof space of Kenai's Holy Assumption of the Virgin Mary Russian Orthodox Church while installing a new fire supression system on Thursday, Oct. 6 in Kenai.

Kenai airport commission hears further details of PRL airship

With a first-generation hybrid airship planned to start work in 2019 for transportation and contracting company PRL Logistics, both the airship’s range of missions and… Continue reading

This map of the city-owned wooded strip between the Kenai Spur Highway and Lawton Drive shows Kenai city manager Paul Ostrander's compromise in a land use debate between residents to the south seeking to preserve the strip as a buffer from the highway and business owners who've sought to develop it. Under Ostrander's plan, which the Kenai city council will discuss in a May 15 worksession, the blue areas would remain in city ownership while the yellow areas would be put out to bid for private acquisition. This map was taken from the Kenai Peninsula Borough's parcel viewer and modified by the Peninsula Clarion with information from the Kenai City Council.

Lawton Acres plan to be discussed

The 30-year debate over Kenai’s Lawton Acres — a wooded city-owned strip by the Kenai Spur Highway that business owners have sought to develop and… Continue reading

This map of the city-owned wooded strip between the Kenai Spur Highway and Lawton Drive shows Kenai city manager Paul Ostrander's compromise in a land use debate between residents to the south seeking to preserve the strip as a buffer from the highway and business owners who've sought to develop it. Under Ostrander's plan, which the Kenai city council will discuss in a May 15 worksession, the blue areas would remain in city ownership while the yellow areas would be put out to bid for private acquisition. This map was taken from the Kenai Peninsula Borough's parcel viewer and modified by the Peninsula Clarion with information from the Kenai City Council.

Kenai planning and zoning commission passes comprehensive plan

The Kenai City Council’s vote is now the last requirement before the city’s new comprehensive plan becomes final, following the draft plan’s unanimous approval from… Continue reading

This satellite map provided by the City of Kenai and modified by the Peninsula Clarion highlights in green the two property parcels that Kenai administrators plan to rezone as commercial. The Kenai Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously voted against the rezone on Wednesday. In the future, the city council will hold a final vote on the rezone.

Kenai Planning and Zoning supports new airport zone, rejects commercializing 2 Spur highway lots

When Kenai’s airport rezone plan goes to the city council for a final vote, one measure will have the blessing of the Planning and Zoning… Continue reading

This satellite map provided by the City of Kenai and modified by the Peninsula Clarion highlights in green the two property parcels that Kenai administrators plan to rezone as commercial. The Kenai Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously voted against the rezone on Wednesday. In the future, the city council will hold a final vote on the rezone.

Kenai Airport land policy irks some locals

Much of what is now central Kenai was a military airfield during the 1940s and ‘50s. One of its legacies is a large holding of… Continue reading

Kenai council manages land

At their Wednesday meeting the Kenai City Council held two closed executive sessions about purchases of city land. One was an ongoing issue — the… Continue reading