Planning & Zoning Commission - Regular Meeting

You're on the record. I would like to call the March 25, 2026 Planning and Zoning Commission regular meeting to order. If you are able, 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.

May we have the roll call, please? Thank you. Commissioner Woodard is absent. Vice Chair Doit here. Chair Keaton here. Commissioner Askin present. Commissioner Ersley present. Commissioner Krauss is absent. Commissioner Fikes here. You have a quorum. Thank you. Uh number three, approval of the agenda and consent agenda. All items with an asterisk. Okay, we don't have this.

Is there a motion to approve the agenda and consent agenda with the lay down? Move to approve the agenda and the consent agenda. Second. Thank you. I would like to request a amendment to that for a spelling error. Yes, go ahead.

Uh under I reports uh line number three, item number three, um to change the spelling on Kenai to Ken Ai instead of KN I A. Do I hear a motion or a second? I second. Thank you. And uh can we ask and somebody want to ask for unanimous consent? I request unanimous consent on the approval of the agenda as amended.

Are there any objections? Hearing none, the motion passes. So, could the clerk please read the consent agenda items into the record? Thank you. The approval of minutes regular meeting of March 11th, 2026. And that is your consent agenda. Thank you. Are there any public comments on any of the consent agenda items just read by the clerk? Is there anybody online? There's nobody online.

Thank you. Can we Oh, did we do unimous consent? Okay. And is there anybody that would like to ask for unanimous consent? I'll ask for unanimous consent on the original approval of agenda in a second. Second.

Thank you. Hearing it's Are there any objections? Hearing none. The agenda and consent agenda are approved. And under C, scheduled public comment, uh, we have none. Is that correct? That is correct. And D, unscheduled public comment. Is there anyone from the public wishing to speak to anything that is not on the agenda? There is nobody online.

Thank you. That brings us to consideration of plats. The first preliminary plat before us tonight is resolution PZ2026-07 recommending that preliminary plat black gold estates 2026 vacation be conditionally approved. Is there a motion to approve the resolution PZ2026-07? I move to approve resolution PZ2026-07 recommending that plat preliminary plat black gold estates 2026 vacation be conditionally approved

a second second and if I can I'm going to go ahead and recuse myself at this time and step down since it's directly relates to me. Thank you. Director Butner, can we have the staff report, please?

Thank you, Chair Katon. All right. Uh, the city received a preliminary plat from MLAN Consulting, Inc. on behalf of the property owner for the vacation of a 60oot unnamed rideway located along the southeastern boundary of lot 11A, block 8, Black Gold Estates, 2025 replant. The recent acquisition of the Wildwood Drive rightway by the city of Kenai from the Kenai Native Association, Inc. renders the unnamed rideaway unnecessary for the original intended use of access to the black gold estate subdivision. Kenai M municipal code chapter 1410 subdivision regulations. States preliminary plats for replats must first be submitted to the city for review and provide recommendation to the Kenai Peninsula Burough Planning Commission. The proposed vacation plat meets preliminary plat requirements and development requirements for the general commercial zoning district. Access to the subject lot is via Wadwood Drive, which is a city-maintained paved road. At approximately 40,729 square ft, proposed lot 11A1 is of adequate size for commercial development to include parking. City water and sewer are available along Wildwood Drive. The public works director, fire marshall, and building official have reviewed the preliminary plat and have no comments. staff finds that the preliminary plat meets the following title 14 uh K9 municipal code sections and aligns with the intent of the K9 zoning code. One pursuant to KMC 141070 subdivision design standards of preliminary plat for replat subject to the listed conditions provides utility easements provides satisfactory and desirable building site and the accessible water and wastewater systems are subject to the regulatory requirements of the city of Kai public works department pursuant to KMC 141080 minimum improvement required the preliminary plat is within a subdivision that has dedicated rights of way and determined acceptable access subject to the listed conditions therefore an installation agreement is not required. ired pursuant to KMC 1424010 minimum lot area requirements preliminary plat meets city standards for commercial development including

parking pursuant to KMC 142420 general requirements preliminary plat meets city standards for minimum lot width/depth and access/utility easements compliance with the maximum lot coverage maximum height and subbacks will be reviewed during the building permit review staff finds that the proposed preliminary plat for black gold states 2026 vacation to vacate a 60 ft rideway on lot 11A block 8, Black Gold Estates 2026 replat meets the general standards for Kenai Municipal Code Chapter 1410 subdivision regulations and chapter 1424 development requirements table and hereby recommends that the planning and zoning commission recommends approval of resolution number PZ202607 to the K9 Peninsula Burough subject to the following conditions. And I apologize, I misspoke. It's black gold states 2025 replat, but the conditions are number one, further development of the property will conform to all federal, state of Alaska, and local regulations. Two, the Kenai city council must declare the 60oot rideaway not needed for a public purpose and approve the vacation of the rideway as shown on the preliminary plat. Three, a plat note added to the final plat to prohibit access from Windflower Drive to avoid double frontage in accordance with KMC 141070E2. And that is my report.

Thank you. Are there any remote attendees wishing to speak? There's nobody online. Thank you.

Does anybody want to ask the applicant questions? Okay. Uh, does anybody want to ask for unanimous consent through the chair? Um, could you please call the role? Thank you. Commissioner Askin. No. Chair Keaton? No. Commissioner Ersley? Yes. Commissioner Fees?

Yes. We have two commissioners absent. I'm going to ask to defer to the planning director uh through the chair. Um for the be because with only four voting members, we would have um we would not have a majority. Um it would just be requested for for the record to for the vote for the ones voting no. um if you could state findings uh for any findings that you may have um on the record.

I'll go ahead and start. I'm just curious what's changed from this that we're voting on to the previous that we voted on

um through the chair. Um last year when we heard the original replat um which was four lots that got merged into one at that time there was not an agreement between the city and the Kai native association and so the city at that time did not feel there was still a potentially a public purpose for this rideway whereas now that um agreement has been secured and so now Wildwood Drive is already 120T rideway and this is an additional 60 ft. um to the north. So the city at this time now that we have the agreement feels that there is not a public purpose for um for that right away or they I will put it this way cuz council has not officially said that but there is a much much better chance now because of that agreement that this rightway is no longer needed for a public purpose and that that is the main change that's why it was brought back separately. Um, and that's why the plat the merging of the lots was allowed last year, but the vacation was denied. And that was simply because they wanted to have an option in case that agreement did not come to come to pass.

Any questions? Do you want to talk, Alex?

I would dearly love to talk. Um, so this was brought before this commission a while ago and approved. It went before the bureau and was approved. It went before the council and it was denied by the council for two reasons that were I was given. One they wanted to the staff had said book up against it because at that time they still wanted to secure the rideway with Canes that has now been secured and staff has told me specifically that they don't have any contestion to this and they would be fine with that entire road rightway being vacated by all the land owners but they don't want to pay for it. So, in accordance with this, this is like we did with the other vacate. This is the landowner paying for this vacate. This is a 60 ft nonused rideway of barren trees to a road that is already being utilized in that 120 ft. For me to have this and every other property owner, this being here means I have to increase 60 ft of driveway to a known needed road. So that's why this is going before this for me to access that lot. And if you've ever added 60 ft of road right away or a driveway, it's a great expense. It also takes all the utilities are on the original Wildwood Drive rightway. I have to then bring all my water and sewer for this lot an additional 60 feet before I get to the lot that I can build on to cross over a road right away that staff no longer needs. This original road rightway was put in as a frontage road for the military purposes back I believe in the '60s when the property that I own adjacent to this was considered to be a city park. It no longer got developed into a city park park. And this lot now that we're in question is also now also been changed to commercial. So it's a

commercial property now. And this access would allow me to access that separate lot without having to have 60 more feet of utilities and 60 more feet of driveway to essentially a lot that is not needed and the city has no interest in per the city staff. They've secured the deal with Kites to be able to modify and they're going to be starting to do work on Wildwood hopefully this year reditching and stuff. And so by me vacating this lot, it allows me to clear the trees so they can ditch properly because right now it sits about 4T above my property line, my current property level and cause huge damning issues in my lot. So that's the other reason I want to be able to clear this right away to make the ditch proper to allow more drainage so I don't have two foot lakes sitting there because it's so high this one little tiny section. And also if you look back the city also back in 2022 already vacated a much larger section of the same road right away. So it's already been precedented once and now we have the agreement and that's why I'm coming forward. If you had to pay to have 60 ft of extra driveway it's a huge expense not counting the utilities. We're talking tens of thousands of dollars here for essentially before I can even start to develop or get anything to my property line. That's why it's here. So that's where I'm coming from is for development purposes. I'm not asking for anything special. The other reason that I was given for council was the perception of me being on council at the time asking for this. I am no longer on council. So that perception is gone. So, it's the same thing that any other land owner in all these are the lots along Wildwood would be allowed to do per city staff. So, that's where this came from.

Through the chair, do you recall did John um at RPMs, did he have a similar issue? Did he not vacate some land by his property?

No, not on that side. He reszoned some areas. He was part of that reszoning that included this lot that is now. He didn't he may had like a road right away maybe between a couple of his lots years ago, but I think what he was working on was a reszone most recently. He was part of that reszone where some of the lots where he had the storage unit weren't zoned quite right or something. And so he included that when we did this lot here, but I also own the lots directly across from this are also currently owned by me too. So the lots, it's not like it's changing somebody for the people that are across the street. And it's all now, this whole area is now, as this body did, is now considered commercial and not a residential lot. Anyway, yeah, thank you. That's where I was going.

And through the chair, um, just for clarification, um, I think that it's not Kait that you're working with, but K9 association, a village corporation. Sorry. Yes. One of the case. Sorry, Mr. basket. Okay. Couple questions. Yes. Um that's 9360 ft, right? That's been it was originally dedicated as a road. Am I correct?

You're the chair. It was uh held so when it was originally was platted back I want to say in the '60s um they did not want to have there was a lot of basically from where Wildwood is where the prison is now um was the base. there was a ditch that went from there all the way to the bluff. And what they did not want to do is have a lot of people putting driveways over that and kind of damning up the the ditch. So they wanted this essentially to be a frontage road where we the city would control access across, you know, putting in the proper coververts, whatever. um that now is not needed because um all the water and sewer is piped out of Wildwood and there's still like ditching that you need on the side of the road but not you know not to the level they were using back in the '60s. Um and so this development no longer is bound by needing to have a frontage road along Wwood. And that's why um the city does not um the staff and administration don't think that there's going to be any use. Now that we have secured what was always the question was who owned Wildwood? Was it the city? Was it um was it the state? Um and ends up it was K&A um K9 Native Association. So, um I think now that the circumstances have changed, um it's appropriate that this is no longer needed.

Okay. So, my my other question is is when the the original lot line does not include this section, right?

It um the original does not. It has it's an unnamed 60oot rideway. Um however whenever rightaway is um declared not needed for a public purpose it reverts to an adjoining land owner. Um normally if this was a I'll say normal road. If let's say we just vacated all of Wildwood Drive it would be split down the middle and go to adjoining ones on both sides of the road. But since this one the adjoining land owner is Wildwood Drive um it wouldn't revert to that. would be um pushed to the private land owner that's to the north.

So, considering the comments and questions, would anybody like to revote? Can we get a motion to revote? if you want.

I'm not sure my opinion has changed at this point, but did you want me to make a motion and we just revote and now that we've had an opportunity to have some additional discussion and clarity? Um, if anybody wants to second making a additional vote. Second.

Thank you. Does anybody have any other comments they want to make before we vote? I should have asked. Okay. I just wanted to say, Alex, that I was still under the understanding that this was still in debate as to who the owner was. And since that's been cleared up, um I I don't think that uh I don't think it's the same proposal as it was the last time. Um, clerk, can you call the role, please? Thank you, Chair Chair Keaton. Yes. Commissioner Ersley, yes. Commissioner Fees,

yes. Commissioner Asen, no. You have three yes votes and one no vote. PZ resolution 2026-07 is approved. You're welcome to join us again.

Thank you. We have no public hearings tonight. Um, G, unfinished business. We have no unfinished business tonight. New business, we have no new business tonight. This is going to go quick. That brings us to reports. Planning Director Butner, may we have your report, please?

Thank you, Chair Keaton. Uh, keep it short and sweet. Um, you may have noticed under item O,formational items, there is, uh, FAA section 106 findings. Uh it was addressed to both myself um as planning director and to the commission as body as whole. So I figured that you guys should see it. Um but they're replacing the fence uh around the airport and so anytime federal money they have to do in whole environmental review and part of that is historical uh if there's any historical significance which is section 106. Um according to them there there will be nothing that um hasn't already been disturbed there. It's a 1 to1 replacement. Um, so just want to let you know that that did come in. So that's why it's in there underformational items. Um, as spring rolls around, we're getting a little bit busier. So, um, we are again not going to have a meeting on the 8th, um, of April and then we're kind of getting a bonus week early, um, because council moved their meeting to the 22nd. So, we don't have one until April 29th. So, hopefully, cross our fingers, breakup might be here and we can actually start doing our spring activities. Thank you. Um, I have no report, but I want to thank everybody for being here tonight. Um, Commissioner Fes, may we have your report, please?

All righty. We met on Monday and we had quite a few um, utility easement vacations. All of them were ultimately approved. The one that caused the most uh, discussion was the one where the applicant had three. If you're familiar with Powersports, across the street is Trinity Church and there was a small little structure that's like an 8x10 shed. And so there's consideration, is it in the rightway? Is it not in the rightway? And then also they had a vacation for another utility shed further back on their property. And then they had a garage that was over. So this applicant didn't show up. This applicant had three different parcels at three different construction times. So, it was ultimately approved, but then you have to go with the standards. You know, nobody complained. Was there any kind of rightaway issue? No. They're widening the road. So, there was talk about that. Would that impact the widening of the road? But they said they could circle back and visit that as DOT makes adjustments and changes, but it was just kind of disheartening. It just felt like a rubber stamp because this person just But again, there's no zoning rules in the burrow. And so you have to drive that message home even though you might think otherwise. So again, it was a lesson in finding. So it was a good one. So ultimately, like I say, everything was approved. But like I say, what seems obvious and logical isn't always the case. So that was a takeaway.

Thank you. And is there anybody? Oh, go ahead. They're in executive session. Yeah. Is there anyone from the public wishing to comment? Anybody online? There's nobody online. Okay. Thank you. Next meeting is April 29, 2026. And is anyone planning to be absent or attending remotely? Marty.

Okay. Which one was better? April 8th. Um, will this be a work session as well? Will this be a work session as well? Uh, very very likely there will be one, but we have not scheduled that yet. But I will I'll send something to let the commission know. Commissioner Woodard is absent tonight and she was wondering if someone may make a motion to excuse her absence.

I will make a motion to excuse Commissioner Woodard's absence tonight. Second. And can I ask for unanimous consent? Are there any objections? Thank you. Unanimous consent. Motion passes. We have no pending items. Uh does anybody have any comments or questions or um would like to speak briefly before we adjourn? Marty,

obvious below. Sonia, Sonia, nothing. Commissioner Fes, all good. Okay. Go ahead, Commissioner Do.

All good. Just as a reminder, um, when you're up here and you're going to say no or yes, be prepared to make sure you state findings so that when stuff gets contested, we have something for the council to contest and look at. So, make sure to state those findings. All right, that's it. Seeing no further business