City Council - Regular Meeting

I'd like to call the July 8th, 2026 City Council meeting to order. If you're available or able, would you please rise and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance?

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Clerk, please call the roll.

Council Member Cassana here. Council Member Sonner.

Here.

Mayor next step here. Council Member Daniel.

Here.

Council Member Grimmie here. Vice Mayor Askin here. Council Member Petty here. You have a quorum.

OK, now we are down to approval of the agenda and consent agenda. Pleasure of Council. Vice Mayor Askin.

I move that we approve the agenda and consent agenda as presented. I'll second.

Are there any additional revisions to the agenda and consent agenda from the council?

Request unanimous consent.

Thank you. Would the clerk please read the consent agenda items into the record?

Thank you, Mayor Nackstead. Approval of the regular meeting minutes of June 17, 2026, brought to you by the city clerk. New business action approval. Bills to be ratified, brought to you by the administration. Action approval, purchase orders and purchase order amendments requiring council approval in accordance with KMC 715-020, brought to you by the administration. Action approval, special use permit to Kenai Chamber of Commerce and Visitor Center for the Moose Meat John Cabin, brought to you by the administration. Action approval approving the official bond amounts for city manager, city clerk, and finance director brought to you by the administration. Action approval non-objection to the issuance of a retail marijuana store license for Fat Tops LLC doing businesses Fat Tops LLC license number 42816. Brought to you by the city clerk. Introduction of ordinance number 3534-2026 amending Kenai Municipal Code 7.25.030 unbudgeted appropriations to allow the city manager to appropriate donations and grants under $10,000. Brought to you by Vice Mayor Askin and Council Member Grimmie. Introduction of ordinance number 3535-2026 removing public purpose designations on Kenai Peninsula Borough parcel numbers 04711308. 04711309, 04711310, 04711311, 04711312, and 04108003 to accommodate disposal recommendations in the City of Kenai Land Management Plan brought to you by the administration. And those ordinances are scheduled for public hearing on August 5th, 2026. And that is your consent agenda.

Thank you very much. Are there any public comments on any of the consent agenda items just read into the record by the clerk? Seeing no one, unanimous consent was requested. Are there any objections? Hearing and seeing no objections, the agenda and consent agenda are approved. We have no scheduled administrative reports. They have no scheduled public comments. So now we have unscheduled public comments. Are there any members from the public who would like to speak on any item not appearing on the agenda tonight? Seeing no one, that brings us to public hearings. The first public hearing before us tonight is Ordinance Number 3531-2026, Increasing Estimated Revenues and Appropriations in the Kenai Recreation Center Improvements Capital Project Fund and accepting a grant from the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Program to replace lighting in the Kenai Recreation Center brought to us by administration. Pleasure of counsel. Vice Mayor Askin.

I move we enact ordinance number 3531-2026. I'll second.

Is there anyone from the general public that would like to speak to Ordinance 3531-2026? Seeing no one, we'll bring it back to council, council discussion. City Manager Eubank, would you like to explain what we're doing here?

Yes, thank you, Mr. Mayor, members of council. So this $75,000 grant the city's had for A little bit here. We've been trying to determine what's the most appropriate use or best use of those funds. I think originally we envisioned using them for some streetlight replacement. After we completed that streetlight assessment, we determined that there really wasn't enough lights. This can only be used for replacement of the fixtures, I believe. So there weren't enough fixtures that needed to be replaced to spend the full $75,000. The next project that was identified is lighting at the Kenai's Recreation Center. Some of that lighting is very old, very inefficient. Our public works director worked with the granting agency to get approval to replace all of the lighting in the facility or some of the lighting. So whether it's interior, whether it's in the gym, whether it's in any of the other areas, we have approval to replace the lighting. He's in the process of developing the bid specs to put this out to bid, and we will utilize it to replace as much lighting as we can. Depending on how those bids come in, we may seek a little bit of additional funding to finish off replacement. But this initially just appropriates the grant amount and gets us to the point where we can bid based on his estimate of cost. So... Hopefully that answers any of your questions.

Thank you, City Manager Eubank. Do we have any questions of the City Manager? Councilmember Grimmie.

I just had one comment. I hope through this project, if it's possible, to include the exterior lights of the rec center area. I know I have received several comments from users of that facility over the last couple of years and experienced it myself as well, especially in the winter months or late fall. It's very, very dark outside in the parking lot area and in the I don't know what to call it except maybe like the tunnel that you walk down to get in there. So if it is economically feasible for those exterior lights to be considered for part of this improvement, I would really encourage that to happen if possible.

City Manager Eubank, did you have a response to that?

No, I have no comment. Like I said, we'll focus on, you know, replacing, you know, to get the best energy efficiency we can, but we'll definitely take into consideration your comments.

Any further discussion? Seeing none, clerk, please call the roll.

Councilmember Sonert?

Yes.

Mayor Nackstead?

Yes.

Councilmember Daniel?

Yes.

Councilmember Grimmie?

Yes.

Vice Mayor Eskin? Yes. Councilmember Petty? Yes. Councilmember Kacena.

Yes.

You have seven yes votes. Ordinance number 3531-2026 is enacted.

Okay. We are now on item E2, ordinance number 3532-2026, determining that the proposed subdivision of Denina Point Estates serves other city purposes, authorizing the city to share in subdivision costs and increasing estimated revenues and appropriations in the general fund, lands administration, in the amount of $54,219 brought to us by administration. Pleasure of counsel. Vice Mayor Askin.

I move that we enact ordinance number 3532-2026. I'll second.

Is there anybody from the general public that would like to speak to Ordinance 3532-2026? I think we have one. Date your name and generally where you live area, that'd be great.

Of course. Hi, Council. How are you? My name is Ryan Tunseth. I live at 2815 Bryson Avenue in Kenai. So first of all, I'd like to thank the city manager for taking my call today and answering quite a few questions that I had about this already. my first comment i think is just procedural and that as a landowner adjacent to this property i'd like to be notified if there's ordinances or resolutions relating to my property in this case my property looks like it maybe changes because of one of the right-of-way vacations and gets bigger so i don't have a problem with that but i'd still like to be notified i know my neighbors would like the same and so as this moves forward i would appreciate that Um, initially my concerns were that, um, you know, I had reached out. This was years ago and formally to the previous city manager about purchasing, um, city lots that were adjacent to my property. Um, and at that time it was sort of alluded that, you know, if they were to be disposed, it would be in a competitive bid process. And it looks like, um, in this process, and I apologize if I'm getting out of turn with speaking to the resolution versus the ordinance on the table. But in this case, it looks like maybe it's a first right of refusal. I think that's okay. You know, certainly I wasn't bringing a lot of money to the table to develop a subdivision and so I understand what the city's what the city's point is there. I think this is a good thing I'm certainly not opposed to it. It's a really cool piece of land, and I know that it's been difficult for the city to develop up to this point and so. OSBT, Dave Kuntz, Thank you very much, I think it's a good idea, I think it's a good idea, I think it's a good idea, I also you know just had some questions about. OSBT, Dave Kuntz, The proposed layout, as it was, and you know, have been assured that it's just a proposed plat not the actual plat some of the concerns were obviously that the overlay looks like some of those lots. may be much smaller with with some of the land that's receded along the bluff and so maybe some issues there I also had issues or questions about whether or not the intention was for those lots to have city water sewer that sort of thing because some of them are quite small and so. It didn't look like they would fit city water and sewer systems as I understood more about this. I understood the requirement to develop the utilities involved in that sort of thing. So I know the developers in this case and know the quality of work they do. And I think they're fantastic partners for the city to have. So it seems like a good idea. And, you know, obviously, like I said, I'm very curious to kind of follow it as it moves forward. And so would like to be notified. It's as things move along. But in general, I just wanted to kind of speak some of my concerns. And again, appreciate the city manager's willingness to talk to me. A lot of my concerns were addressed in just talking to him, but he encouraged that I show up and talk to you guys as well about my concerns. So I'll leave it at that. I think that you understand kind of what my concerns might be with the resolution and the ordinance itself. So I probably won't speak on the next opportunity of public comment. But anyways, thank you for hearing me out and all you guys do for the city of Kenai. I appreciate it.

Mr. Dunstead, thank you for your thoughts. And it was substantially positive, actually. So I appreciate that, too. Being an adjacent property owner, we could, you know. But would you be willing to sit in this case for any questions that council might have? Of course. Any questions? You're also welcome to stay for the next session. Council Member Kucina, are you?

No, no questions. Thanks for being here, Ryan. Sure, yeah. Thank you very much. All right, thanks, sir.

Is there anybody else from the general public that would like to speak to Ordinance 3532-2026? State your name and the general area you live in. You don't have to be real specific.

My name is Eric Downs. I live on K Beach. I'm with Downstream Consulting. I'm here representing Tidewater LLC. Born and raised in Kenai. Graduated from Kenai Central High School. I still live in the community. And this particular project is very personal to me because I grew up about 1,000 yards from the property. big time fan of kenai in the city of kenai and in the future of kenai tidewater llc is owned by my uncle dennis downs he's a general contractor and real estate developer who's been building in this community for 50 years i'm here tonight to answer any questions the council may have regarding the items on tonight's agenda and about our project well thank you for being here tonight are there any questions

Councilmember Petty.

Thank you so very much for being here. I feel like that this will be a great economic viable beautiful thing for our city. And I was looking out for the maps and in the resolution that we will be looking at a little later. Is there going to be a frontage road that parallels the Spur Highway in the planning portion of this?

Please, there you go.

Currently our preliminary design does not include, well, I guess it's, No, I would say that the current layout does not include a frontage road, like a technical frontage road. But there is a road 100 or 200 feet in that does run parallel with the highway. All of our preliminary layouts, while we have spent a great deal of time in planning on the front end, they are preliminary. And so we're looking forward to working with both the administration and the council under their guidance moving forward as we work together on this plat.

I know one of my concerns is accessing that subdivision off the highway and it's being close to the hockey fields there that for safety purposes and wanting to make sure that that's a priority in making those decisions moving forward for the safety of the individuals in that new subdivision and also for all of the people that travel back and forth on that road that have to pass that way to get from one place to the other. So I would like for y'all's intense consideration when you're making those decisions.

Absolutely. One of the great things about that property is the fact that it's a longer straightaway. But yes, proper consideration will have to be given, not only to meet the DOT standards, but also just the other, like the soccer fields in the area, and then also the access and stuff. So that all comes with proper planning well ahead of time and not trying to do stuff at the last minute. So yes, we'll definitely be considering the access

Thank you.

Vice Mayor Eskin.

Thank you, Mayor Nagstead. Mr. Downs, the long, narrow lots right at the waterfront, that lighter area, is that already receded? Is that land that's already receded or is it just shaded that way? Because I think that's a pretty high erosion area, isn't it?

absolutely yeah that's um when initially reviewing this development that was one of the developers reasons for wanting to work on a replat is because of the erosion you know investigation with our engineers it's losing about two feet a year plus or minus and so you know the most beautiful views in the world um and to sit there for another 10 or 20 years to not be utilized by families to look out at the mountains and the ocean. And so that was one of the things that sparked this project and how do we develop that land responsibly and take that erosion into consideration. It's obviously something that is always a trade-off with that view property.

Thank you.

Council Member Grameen.

Hi. The bluff view lots that Vice Mayor Askin just asked you about, those are bluff, I mean, those are view lots, which we all know are expensive. What, could you give me a ballpark idea of what those lots would be valued at or going for when we're talking about those would all be single family home sized lots, I believe? An idea of what the value of those individual lots are?

Yeah, thanks for the question. It would be based on the market conditions at the time. And so we obviously have to plug in different numbers for our pro formas to review the project to make sure it's economically feasible at this stage. But as far as what they will be sold for, when they are fully developed, they have city utilities and roads to them. That's a little bit of a big question mark right now. And so the we feel like, you know, there's definitely a demand for those lots today and there will be in the future, which provides the project stability and health. So it's some of the other property in that subdivision that we have to really work hard in with not only the city administration and community Cape had trying to figure out what products work the best that the community needs in order to make the entire development economical and you know fill those needs for the community so I don't have an answer as far as what the lots of sell for but the market will kind of dictate that at the time.

In consideration of other lots of similar size and location in the same area of Kenai, would $100,000-ish for those lots be a fair guesstimate?

Historically, the lots north of the property in Shoreline Heights have, I think, are today listed somewhere in the $120,000 range and they're similar.

Thank you. That's the area I was referring to. Thank you.

Any further questions of Mr. Downs? I do have one, not to get into the weeds too much, but back to the bluff properties. You mentioned Shoreline Heights, which is, you know, they have a depth requirement that they built into it and a setback from the bluff for the building, you know, because you know what the average erosion rate is. Are you planning on, you're considering to have setbacks like that on this property? And generally, what are your thinking? What are your thoughts?

Yeah, absolutely. That was one of the first things we worked with our engineer with right off the bat is to understand what that looks like today and then also 30, 40, 50 years in the future. And so McLean Engineering has the experience on these bluff properties. And so we feel we have a good path forward. We don't have specifics in terms of exact setbacks and stuff, but our preliminary layout is all taken into consideration, the bluff erosion, and making sure that we have the proper setbacks and enough room to build responsibly.

Okay, thank you for that. Any further questions? Thank you very much for your testimony. Is there anybody else that would like to speak to ordinance 3532-2026? Anybody online? See no one. Back to council. City Manager Eubank. We covered some ground here, but we're talking about platting mostly here. So if you want to give us run down on this. I mean, maybe the difference in the plats and why we're replatting.

Yeah, thank you, Mr. Mayor, council members. So like it's already been said, I think, you know, Resolution 2026-51 parallels this quite a bit. But to keep in mind, what all this ordinance is doing is appropriating funds so that the city can participate with Tidewater LLC in replatting of this subdivision. So to give you a little bit of history on Denina Point, Denina Point Estates was platted in 1984 in its current state, and it's been undeveloped since. It currently has six different owners that own property in it, and it's comprised of about 125 acres, including lots and dedicated right-of-way. What I would describe as impediments to development, the current configuration of the subdivision, if you look on page 11 of your packet, it's a little difficult to see here, but the green area here represents current subdivided lots under city ownership. Those green ones are the current lots and what the city currently owns. You can kind of see in these white lines in here depicted in the other areas, you can see what some of the other lots currently look like. But What I can tell you is prior to any development in here, it's going to require resubdivision. It could be resubdivision of individual lots. And what we expect is that by resubdividing the whole thing, we can provide a more efficient layout that can reduce development costs and produce more developable land. So that's one of the impediments, I think, is the current configuration that is laid out in. another impediment we believe is current zoning this entire section is currently zoned suburban residential now suburban residential provides for permitted use of almost all residential construction. However, the majority of commercial type construction or commercial type operations would require conditional use. So, and, you know, typically businesses like to be permitted rather than conditional. So again, on page 10 this time of your packet, you can see if this is the proposed layout for the subdivision, the pink area here was likely to be proposed to rezone from suburban residential to central mixed use, which will accommodate more commercial development in that section of that. And that's predominantly the area fronting the highway. To get to Ms. Petty's question, no, there is not a frontage road that parallels the highway. There is a road, the next road back parallels the highway and all access to these businesses would be from that road, not direct access onto the highway. I don't believe DOT would permit that many accesses onto the highway. So as far as safety, I think it's much safer for all that. The businesses will have frontage on the highway. They can advertise. They can have their signage on their property. But actual access to the property will be from that first road back. To get to, I think, the mayor's question regarding development of bluff lots. I did ask staff today and staff looked at it under the current configuration and by replatting, making these bluff lots deeper into what is currently existing right away in a lot of cases, the minimum depth from what is currently the top of the bluff, the face of the bluff to the road averages between 260 and 300 feet. That's the depth. So when you're talking about a required 20-foot front setback from the road, a house could be developed likely taking up, say, 50 feet. You'd have 70 feet. You'd have 190 feet of property, if it was set all the way to the front, 190 feet of property behind before the bluff. The borough currently estimates on their website erosion between 2.3 and 2.7 feet per year. So at 190 feet, you have 60 plus years of potential erosion before you run into situations. So like I said, I think this layout takes a lot of that into account. again get back to the development impediments you've got current configuration you've got current zoning i think multiple ownership in this area creates complexity like i said there's currently six owners and you know each of those owners have a different capacity and frankly have a different interest in how or when or how this thing should be developed by tidewater getting under contract all of those properties except for what's owned by the city we now can work cooperatively together. And I think much easier to help move development forward on this property. So again, all this ordinance is doing is providing the funding for the city to participate. The participation is based upon a pro rata share of ownership of acreage at this point, including right of way. We own roughly two thirds of it. They have under contract the rest and will own prior to any subdivision taking place. The remainder, we would pay two-thirds of the cost. The configuration you're looking at on page 10 of the packet, just for referencing, this layout, not final by any stretch, but includes 204 lots. 46 of those are for multifamily potential developments, 128 of those are for single family, and 30 of those represent commercial properties that can be developed as commercial property. So 204 total lots. This does not guarantee any future leases, anything like that. And again, once subdivision or replatting is accomplished, there will be installation or other agreements that will ensure the installation of roads and utilities prior to any of these properties being sold. And I probably have a whole lot more notes and I'd be happy to answer any questions.

Thank you for that, City Manager. Any questions of the City Manager? Any further discussion? I'd like to say that I do support this ordinance. And back in the 90s and maybe before when I was a younger engineer, developers did come forward looking to develop this property and found it problematic in its layout. And perhaps the zoning too, which wasn't something I was concerned too much about, but running the water sewer and roads was a difficulty and it just never happened. So it's been sitting here all this time. So now we've got a developer that's going to have some skin in the game in the property and the development. So hopefully we'll see some movement out there after all this time. So if there's no further discussion, clerk, please call the roll.

Mayor Nackstead?

Yes.

Council Member Daniel?

Yes.

Council Member Grimmie? Yes. Vice Mayor Askin? Yes. Council Member Petty? Yes. Council Member Cassana?

Yes.

Council Member Sonert? Yes. You have seven yes votes. Ordinance number 3532-2026 is enacted.

Thank you. Now we are on item E3, ordinance number 35332026, increasing estimated revenues and appropriations for the senior center canopy roof replacement and authorizing a contract award for the animal control and senior center canopy roof replacement project brought to us by administration. And this we are going to push forward under Kenai Municipal Code 1.15.070D, which allows an ordinance making, appealing, and transferring or otherwise changing appropriation so it could be done in one meeting. And I believe we're doing this because it's in a time-sensitive condition. So with that, I'll look for a motion to introduce. Vice Mayor Askin.

I move that we introduce ordinance number 3533-2026 and request unanimous consent. I'll second.

Unanimous consent was requested. Are there any objections? Seeing none, we will move down to motion for a second reading. Pleasure, council.

I move that we have a second reading of ordinance number 3533-2026 and request unanimous consent.

I'll second.

Unanimous consent was requested. Are there any objections? Seeing none, I'll read ordinance number 3533-2026, increasing estimated revenues and appropriations for the senior center canopy roof replacement. and authorizing a contract award for the Animal Control and Senior Center Canopy Roof Replacement Project brought to us by administration under KMC 1.15.070D. Now we move to enact pleasure counsel. Vice Mayor Askin.

I move that we enact ordinance number 3533-2026. I'll second.

Is there anybody from the general public that would like to speak to ordinance 35 Seeing no one, bring it back to council, council discussion. City Manager Eubank.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, members of council. So we have two projects within this ordinance. We are redoing the canopy roof over at the senior center and redoing the roof on our animal control shelter. They were bid together. When the bids came in, there was sufficient funds to award the animal control shelter roof. However, the current project funds are insufficient for the senior center canopy. This ordinance requests an additional $110,000 for that project to be appropriated and then to award to Orion Construction, who was the only bidder on this we received. I can tell you the animal control shelter roof did come in under the engineer's estimate. I think the senior center canopy is in excess of the engineer's estimate, but it's been reviewed by staff and believe that the bid is both reasonable and appropriate, and we're recommending appropriation and then award to Orion Construction.

Thank you. Any questions of the city manager? Any further discussion? Council Member Pigg?

Yes. Through the Mayor, City Manager, if this passes and moves forward, when is the estimated time that the projects would be started and what's the projected time that they would be completed?

Thank you, Mr. Mayor or Councilmember Petty. Great question. I appreciate that. I can't tell you exactly when it would start. I think that's up to the contractor. The contract does require completion or at least substantial completion by October 31st of this year. So I don't think they're going to be messing around. In line with what the mayor said, especially since the fact we only have a single meeting here in May, this is why we're asking for a double reading so that we can get this awarded and they can start the work.

Any further discussion? Please call the roll.

Councilmember Daniel?

Yes.

Councilmember Grimmie?

Yes.

Vice Mayor Askin? Yes. Councilmember Petty? Yes. Councilmember Kacena?

Yes.

Council Member Sonnard? Yes. Mayor Nackstead?

Yes.

You have seven yes votes. Ordinance 3533-2026 is enacted.

Thank you. That brings us to item E4, resolution 2026-51, authorizing the city manager to execute a memorandum of understanding with Tidewater LLC regarding the planning, replatting, and potential purchase development of D9F Point estate subdivision brought to us by administration. PLEASURE OF COUNCIL. VICE MAYOR ASKIN.

I MOVE WE ADOPT RESOLUTION 2026-51 AND REQUEST UNANIMOUS CONSENT. I'LL SECOND.

IS THERE ANYBODY FROM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT WOULD LIKE TO SPEAK TO RESOLUTION 2026-51? SEEING NO ONE, BACK TO COUNCIL.

VICE MAYOR ASKIN.

I HAD A TAKER THERE. ANY COMMENTS, QUESTIONS? We have Phil Daniel. Mr. Daniel.

Thank you, Mayor Nackstead. Just a quick comment. I'm a really big fan of public-private partnerships, and this is a great example of another one. I'm looking forward to hopefully moving this forward, and I definitely support this. Thank you.

Could you hear him all right? Okay. Thank you, Mr. Daniel. I heard parts of what you said, but I think I got the gist of it. It was a little quiet on this end. I apologize. So any better? Yeah, a little better. Thank you. All right. Council Member Petty, you had your light on? Did you have a question?

Yes, thank you, Mayor. I'd like to ask the city manager, if Tidewater does not get all of the properties under their jurisdiction, will the planning still move forward or Is there contingence for that if that doesn't happen, sir? City Manager Eubank?

Yeah, thank you, Mr. Mayor. Council Member Petty. So I think it's important to try to couch what this memorandum of understanding does and what it doesn't do. Um, what it clearly does is it provides a framework for us to work cooperatively with Tidewater LLC. Um, it does provide, it does guarantee them a first rider refusal, um, to, uh, develop and acquire city property through this process. Like I said, I think in my previous testimony, if another developer comes in and inquires about developing a piece of this, they have 60 days to exercise their first right of refusal. then they have then 90 days to get a lease or subsequent agreement in place that would then require development within a prescribed period of time and define exactly what that development is. If they don't act within that 60 pay period or can't get an agreement, then the city could work with other developers to develop property in there. It doesn't guarantee any future agreements. But it does guarantee them that first right of refusal for a period of 10 years. It also establishes, requires that an appraisal take place now to determine the value of the property in question that the city is contemplating moving forward with this on. So there will be an appraisal that takes place to determine what that property is worth today in its existing condition. And then what it also envisions, I wanna make sure I get all of this. Beyond that, what it does is it establishes a basic framework for how we can work together and how we envision things going. So to your question, there will either be, they'll have to be once the preliminary plat is prepared, in order for final plat to be achieved, which means lots are then sellable. A preliminary plat, once it's prepared, until it is final platted, the subdivision of Denina Points Estate will look, if you go to the borough's website, will look exactly like it does today, until a final plat is recorded. Okay. In order to get to final plat, it's going to require a subsequent agreement between us and anybody. That's going to require installation of the infrastructure, roads, utilities, and lay out all of the requirements for that. So this definitely does not guarantee any of those. I think we've been working extremely well with tidewater. We bounced a lot of ideas back and forth and really tried to hammer on some things. This does envision a couple of things I will highlight for you. It does establish a framework for There's potential there will be an exchange of land during the resubdivision process because we're taking what is current right away and it's becoming part of other lots, things like that. This defines how we likely will govern that and that our goal at the end is for the city to maintain the same acreage that we had when we start and for tidewater to maintain the same acreage. So it kind of lays out a framework for that. It also lays out a framework where the city can enter into an agreement agreeing to provide our property to Tidewater at no cost if they provide installation of roads and utilities that provide access to those properties. I will tell you the engineer's estimate to do installation of roads and utilities under this proposed layout is in excess of $15 million. So it is a substantial investment by whoever decides to develop this. It doesn't guarantee that all of those decisions are still at the discretion of council. It doesn't guarantee that things will be rezoned. Those are discretionary decisions by planning and zoning and council that we cannot guarantee. And they are fully aware we've had all of these discussions. But I think what it does is to emphasize again is it provides a framework for us to work with them on a path moving forward. But it does guarantee them that first right of refusal, and it does require the appraisal. And that appraisal will be at their cost.

A follow-up question. If those appraisals, if they want part of the property now, the appraisal for their consideration for properties in five years from now would require a new appraisal 5 years from now for that is that how that would work.

He managed to be.

It's famous mayor council are pay this great question. No under this agreement, I mean what is contemplated is that the value of the property in the future will be based upon the appraised value is determined now so that they're not being required to pay pay the cost to develop and then pay the escalated value of the property after the development. That'd be almost like paying twice. So this does envision locking in the value to them and to them only at the current appraised value. But again, none of that is, all of that is subject to a future agreement.

Thank you, sir.

Yeah, thank you. City attorney did just remind me one clause that is in there regarding the land value is that the current appraisal would be that value would grow by CPI in the future until the point where it got transacted. So there is some amount of growth in there, but it certainly won't be at a new appraised value.

Any further questions? The city manager discussion. I have one essentially it has to do with timeline there's there's a number of moving parts here we've got rezoning there's an exchange of lands and all that and it's going to be coming back to council how is how is that going to all happen concurrently or is it going to be like a train one step yeah thank you mr mayor council members um i think we will work

as expeditiously as we can however you know as we discussed in a ordinance here just recently in the past we can't go through a rezone process until we have a plat to base it on so a lot of this will be more or less a train but when we can find areas where we can operate things in parallel The other big question and what we'll have to work with the developer on is when they get and start to propose actual development, what they're actually proposing to do. And that will dictate then the future agreements, whether those are subdivision installation agreements, whether those are leases or whatever the structure may be. The actual development that they're going to commit to is going to, you know, drive a lot of this too.

So a lot of that is a little bit unknown.

But again, we're going to work as cooperatively and expeditiously with the developers we can to move this project forward, keep it moving forward.

Thank you. Looks like a great project. Any further discussion? Seeing none, unanimous consent was requested. Are there any objections? Seeing none, resolution 2026-51 is adopted. Now we are on item E5, resolution 2026-52, authorizing a contract award for the Kenai Municipal Airport concessions brought to us by administration. Pleasure of counsel. Our city vice mayor Askin, sorry.

I move that we adopt resolution 2026-52 and request unanimous consent. I'll second.

Is there anybody from the general public that would like to speak to Resolution 2026-52? Seeing no one, bring it back to council. Council discussion? Announcement of consent was requested. Oh, Vice Mayor Askin. Sorry.

I was just going to say I'm happy to see... You just turned it off.

Did I?

Okay. I was just going to say I was happy to see that someone is interested in moving into the airport.

Likewise. Any further discussion? Announce consent was requested. Are there any objections? Seeing none, resolution 2026-52 is adopted. Now we're on item E6, resolution 2026-53, authorizing a contract award for the Park Pavilion construction project and redirecting capital funds in the parks improvement capital project fund For the project brought to us by administration, pleasure of council, Vice Mayor Askin.

I move that we adopt Resolution 2026-53 and request unanimous consent. I'll second.

Is there anybody from the general public that would like to speak to Resolution 2026-53? Seeing no one, back to council.

Council discussion.

Announcement of consent was requested. Are there any objections? Seeing no objections, resolution 2026-53 is adopted. We have no unfinished business and no new business. That brings us to commission reports. Council on Aging, Vice Mayor Askin.

Thank you, Mayor Nagstead. Council did not have a meeting in June, and July's meeting is tomorrow afternoon.

Airport Commission, Council Member Sonar.

Their July meeting scheduled for tomorrow evening has been cancelled due to lack of agenda items.

Parks and Recreation, Council Member Grimm.

There has not been a meeting since our last Council meeting and the next scheduled meeting for Parks and Rec is August 3rd.

And Planning and Zoning Commission. Thank you, Mayor. Can you hear me any better?

Can you hear me any better?

Yes, I was incorrect September 3rd.

Thank you.

Planning and zoning commission member Daniel.

Okay, so planning and zoning they met. Uh, let's see here on the 24th of June, I believe they only had 1 item up for. Uh, discussion, it was resolution to 026 dash 19, uh, granting conditional use permit for development use of a 0 lot line townhouse and a 6 family dwelling. in the rural residential zoning district. It was a fun one and ended up the original applicant decided to withdraw and this was postponed indefinitely. There's a lot of discussion around this and people weren't super excited about it, but turns out there may be then some code discrepancies that the ENZ was looking through and Mr. Buettner is looking through, so that'll be good. The only other thing that was interesting to note was the commissioners and the public were noting that there was a lack of, I shouldn't say lack, but maybe the notifications weren't as timely as they would have liked. But other than that, nothing exciting. So their next meeting, I believe, is postponed or it's canceled due to lack of items. And they will meet again on the 29th. And that is my report.

Thank you very much. Unification Commission. Council Member Petty.

Thank you, Mayor. There was no meeting since our last council meeting, and our next time that we get together will be on September the 8th. Thank you.

Thank you. That brings us to Item J, Mayor's Report. I have a few things. It's been a long month, I guess. On the 4th of July, of course, hopefully everybody got out for the parade. and enjoyed that. I had the pleasure of being one of the judges of the almost 70 floats that came through. And actually, the public was out there in force, even though it was a very cold 52 degrees. It took me two hours to warm up afterwards, too. But at any rate, I did not do the dunk tank. And I think Council Member Daniel might have something to report on that. So that would have been quite a challenge. But anyway, the chamber did a very good job in organizing it and whatnot. And it was great fun. And so if you didn't make it, you missed out. The month of June, we had the food fight between the city of Kenai and the city of Soldotna, which it sounds like a competition, and it kind of is, but it was a fun competition. So on July 1st, I met at the food bank with Jonna Beach and the mayor of Soldotna to take some photos of the food That was donated. And then there's other food that was going to be in cash and whatnot. And we got our pictures taken and all that with that. But the food total in pounds total was 8,509 pounds. And the dollar donations were 16,331. Now, it's one pound for every $2 donated. So that came to a combined food total then. of 16,674.5 pounds, which is pretty astounding. So essentially, the way it broke down is Soldotna was able to deliver 10,566 pounds of food and money value And the city of Kenai, 6,108.5. So hopefully we'll do this again next year. And it seems like we flip flop back and forth to win. So I think it'll be our turn next year if we work hard enough to do that. And then kind of an add on to that, there's an Oilers game on July 11th. So Mayor Whitney, he gets to do the first throw I think he's going to have his grandson do it. So he gets to do that. And I guess I'll be making hot dogs. I got elected to do that. So I'll be there for that. So if you want to go to the game, it's free to come in. If you bring a couple of cans of food, non-perishable things, you can come right in. And the hot dogs are free up through the fifth inning. What time? 630 yeah i gotta be there about 530 so all right. either it should be a good, good day and moving on on July 1 I went to the central provincial general hospital ribbon cutting here in town. behind I GA the borough owns. half of a building there that's where the clinic is and it's been not in use for some time and they reopened it and they have mammography equipment in there and bone density equipment and much of this was through funds through their fundraisers that they did that they were able to purchase this equipment they're moving it in there and you can also get other general testing blood tests and things like that too and So I'm very excited for that to be opening back up into our city here. So now you don't have to go all the way to Soldotna even for those trivial things like getting your blood drawn. You can do it here. So there you go. On 29th of June, I went to the Fox Air Grand Opening at the Kenai Municipal Airport. And they are going to have six flights daily from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. from Anchorage, it's just between here and Anchorage, and they're primarily going to be flying caravans. And so it's always good to have another option here, you know, at our airport, and we have a space for it. And then on June 27th, I attended the 46th annual UCEDA meeting, that's United Cook Inlet Drifting Association meeting. Hadn't been to one of those before, but I was invited there and I met with a lot of the fishermen, learned a lot about the politics, things that are going on, some of the things that we're familiar with. And you see it on the beach fishermen, you know, fishing in general, this council has been quite supportive of. through resolutions that we passed on. And it's the fishermen, but it's also the canneries and the whole processing and everything like that. So I offered us up as supporting of them in the future if we could be. And so we might be seeing some kind of a resolution as time goes on. Then on the 19th of June, I was invited by Keith Hamilton from Alaska Christian College to meet at their lunch and do a quick presentation there. And they have, in the summertime, volunteers that come from all over the country, basically, to work on their facility. These are skilled professionals doing work. And so thank them. Alaska Christian College has come a long ways in the last 25 years since I met him, Mr. Hamilton there. It was considered a mansion house, but it was not really. It was pretty cheaply done. And he's expanded upon that with some amazing work and acquired additional properties there. And ACC, it is for all of Alaska, but it does benefit the city of Kenai too here as people come through here. to them and i know keith comes and gives a presentation once a year for us so that's my my report but i would like to recognize chief ross again and uh in all of his years of of uh of being our our police chief this is his last official city council meeting and uh the public doesn't see him here because he's usually in the back watching and making sure everything's moving forward. But we appreciate you, Chief Ross. Thank you. And I hope you don't block my phone number in the future. We were kidding about that earlier. So anyway, the other thing I want to mention is our next scheduled meeting is August 5. We moved this one back to kind of get it near the middle of the month, and we canceled the second meeting because of dip netting. So nobody shows up kind of midstream. So that is my report. So that brings us to administrative reports. City Manager Eubank.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, members of council. A couple of things to report tonight. Start with staffing and recruitment. So recruitment for the airport manager position, we concluded last week. We conducted an in-person interview with our top candidate and are continuing through that recruitment process. I am cautiously optimistic. Recruitment for several other positions is ongoing, including a police officer, firefighter, IT system administrator, public safety dispatcher, utility operator, and a janitor. So if you're looking for a position, you probably want to check out the city's website. I would like to congratulate and recognize Patrol Officer Levi Russell, who will be being promoted to position of Sergeant. That promotion will be effective on August 1st, filling the Sergeant position vacated by our future Chief of Police, Ryan Coleman. So small community air service development grant. So USDOT posted all SCADSV grant applications on regulations.gov. There were 60 applications were submitted requesting nearly $56 million in funding. There's only about 12 to $14 million that is expected to be available. So, and that's a little bit dependent, Again, I think our aviation consultant is always positive. He's reviewed those applications. He thinks the cities is amongst the strongest. So we will have to see how that shakes out. But I'll give you a little update there. I'll also let you know the flight service station lease, our lease with the FAA, we did this week receive a check for $225,000 from the FAA for retroactive lease payments. very glad to have that lease signed is absolutely um an unbelievable process to work through but we did it um and I just when I say we I really want to recognize the efforts of our city attorney and staff who work to finalize that agreement so um As Mayor alluded, DIPNET starts here on Friday. Staff have been out spending a lot of time this week getting city facilities ready for this. So that includes deployment of our fee shacks, signage, and traffic control devices. Upcoming events, the annual Kenai Animal Fair will be held Saturday, July 18th from 10 to 3 on the Green Strip. I got a couple of congratulations. I want to congratulate Planning Director Kevin Boettner on his appointment as Vice President of the American Planning Association Alaska Chapter. So congratulations, Kevin. I have congratulations here to Public Safety Dispatcher Gabe Boyle. He received An award. Actually, he received the very first Calm Voice Award from Gold Line Support, which is an organization that represents or acknowledges the efforts of dispatch centers around the nation. Gabe received the first ever Calm Voice Award. and this was given out for his work that he did on a bear mauling and incident we had here in the city in august of 2025 so i think it's outstanding that um one i commend his supervisor for nominating him for that but um to be the first ever recipient i think is pretty special so congratulations gabe and uh i'm sure you're gonna get tired of hearing this dave but uh like Like the mayor said, I just want to recognize your 25-plus years of service to the city and the citizens, and it's been a pleasure. So thank you. With that, I'm happy to answer any questions.

Any questions of the city manager? Okay. Seeing none, City Attorney Blum.

Thank you, Mayor Nackstead, members of council. I don't have anything to report, but I'm happy to answer any questions.

Madam Clerk?

Thank you, Mayor Nackstead. I have nothing to report available for questions.

OK.

Thank you. That gets us to additional public comments. Are there any members from the public who would like to address the council at this time on anything at all? No one. OK. That brings us to council comments. Council Member Daniel.

Thank you, Mayor Nackstead. I'll be brief, but yes, you were not hitting. It was a cold day. That dunk tank, that was a long hour, but it was fun. It was for a good cause. I got, I was very impressed. There's some kids who can throw. Very first kid steps up and knocks me in. This surprised me, but no, it was, it was a lot of fun. Took me hours to warm up, but I definitely do it again. And I encourage you all to do the same.

Okay. Thank you. Council Member Sonar.

Thank you, Mayor Nackstead. I want to start with thanking Chief Ross for your 25 years of service, and thank you. I know you're going to hear this a lot, but Soak it in, and just as much as you can, enjoy the last couple of weeks. Although, why did you time it with dip net season? That seems like you're going out on a roll there. Just happy birthday, America. 250 years. It was a grand weekend, and I hope everybody got to participate in the festivities. No, I did not do the dunk tank this year, but I was at the 52 degree parade for a couple of hours, standing there and waving and smiling. It was quite fun. That's all I've got. Happy summer, everybody.

Thank you. Vice Mayor Askin.

Thank you, Mary Nagstad. Ditto to Happy Birthday, America. That was a pretty nice parade, although chilly. Enjoyed it immensely. I also went to the Seniors Center on the 2nd, and their choir was performing, and so we had lunch there. And thank you, Chief Ross. We can't say that enough. And congratulations to Kevin and Gabe and Mr. Russell. And I think that's all I've got.

Very good. Council Member Grimmie.

I too was at the 4th of July parade. I think that is my most favorite Kenai event. I have loved it since we moved to Kenai and my kids used to love going and now I make my husband come with me and pretend that he too enjoys going. I'm grateful for all the work that the city chamber and visitor center employees did to get that event put together and of course to all of the entrants in the parade and the vendors on the green strip despite the frigid temperatures it was fun it was great to see all of the all of the entries and walk through the green strip and see everybody there after and of course the the memory signs as well that are set up on the green strip to remember men and women from Kenai that have served. Also, of course, happy birthday to the U.S. You only turn 250 once. It's a pretty, I think a pretty big deal that our country has managed to be the oldest representative democracy slash constitutional republic in the history of the world. The fact that our forefathers had the foresight to put together documents that could stand the test of time is incredible. And I think we're all lucky to wake up here every day. Lastly, Oilers baseball, today's Wednesday. Tomorrow is ladies night, save second base for breast cancer awareness. So 6 o'clock. They also, as Mayor Knox had mentioned, have a game on Saturday at 630 and Sunday at 2. It's really great. We have Oilers baseball back. So I would encourage everybody to go get a hot dog and a beer and sit in the sun and cheer for the home team. And they're on a winning streak. They've had two games with some pretty great home runs. So it'd be a great time to go cheer them on.

Who are they playing this time? Do you know? The Chinooks. Chinooks.

The score is currently 1-1 at the Oilers game, if anyone's interested. But yeah, I think I'll echo a lot of the other comments from everyone else. Congrats to Chief Ross for his last council meeting and condolences to the new chief for one of many. And I also just wanted to thank the Chamber of Commerce and all the work they put in. And I'm not going to say it better than Bridget. So, yeah, thanks to everyone who participated in the 4th of July. And then just wanted to wish the Kenai Kicks U15 girls soccer team good luck at Nationals next week. And good luck, coach. So that's it for me.

Very good.

Council Member Petty.

Thank you, Mayor Nexted. I, too, celebrated the Fourth of July, but not here in our fair city. I was down at the cold, rainy space of Seward, Alaska, watching that wonderful race up and down the mountain. And I had individuals that were near and dear my heart that were racing in that, safely up and down. I wanted to say thank you to Chief Ross and wish you and your family the utmost best. Thank you for all that you have done for our fair city. I also wanted to say thank you for Tidewater and am looking forward to seeing the success of this project and the collaboration with our city. It's a great opportunity to work together. Thank you. And also, Last but not least, I wanted to welcome all of our Alaska neighbors who are becoming down or have already arrived for the wonderful annual dip netting extravaganza that will be right here in our fair city. So I hope that everyone gets abundance in their nets and safety to and back, to and fro. So thank you.

And spends all of their money in the city of K-9.

Where else? We have no executive session, no pending items. With no further business, we are adjourned.