Kenai Airport Commission recommends council adopt updated plan for 376 city parcels

The Kenai Airport Commission recommended Thursday that the Kenai City Council adopt the city's 2026 Land Management Plan. The plan lists 376 city-owned parcels and a recommendation for each. A significant portion of the lots are held in the airport fund.

That fund is why the plan came before the commission. When those parcels are leased or sold, Planning Director Kevin Buettner said, "All that revenue goes into the airport fund for the betterment of the airport." The commission acted by unanimous consent. No member of the public spoke.

The council adopted the city's current plan in June 2022. The update replaces that plan's "retention status," often retain or dispose, with recommendations. Buettner said a lot may be unavailable because it is already leased. It may be available for lease only, because that is how the Federal Aviation Administration released it. It may be open for sale and lease, or held for public use such as parks. Some larger parcels are marked as a partial development opportunity, where a piece could be carved out.

One commissioner asked why the wording mattered. Buettner said it was not clear what the old terms meant. "So for a developer, if it says unavailable, done," he said. A staff memo in the Planning and Zoning Commission packet says the new terms would let developers see whether a parcel is available for lease and whether buying it after development is possible. Buettner said zoning did not change. "We just again changed the verbiage, not the intent," he said.

Staff began the update in June. Buettner said the city has held auctions since 2022, selling land for gravel pits and homes, and has acquired other land. Borough data cleanup also showed some apparent single parcels were actually two or three lots. The parcel count rose from 369 to 376, and the map count fell from 46 to 44, according to the Airport Commission agenda packet. The plan also covers some submerged tidelands.

The plan will be posted online as a PDF once adopted. Buettner said the city aims to finish an interactive digital version, where users could click any lot for its details, by the end of the fiscal year in June.

The Parks and Recreation Commission also had the plan on its Nov. 5 agenda. The Kenai Planning and Zoning Commission is scheduled to consider its own recommendation on the plan at 7 pm Nov. 17. The City Council would make the final decision.