Kenai unveils 20-year parks master plan with sports complex overhaul

The Kenai City Council heard a presentation Wednesday on the city's first comprehensive Parks and Recreation Master Plan in over a decade. The document proposes major facility consolidation and positions the city to pursue outside grant funding.

Chris Myrtle, a landscape architect with Corvus Design, presented the 20-year roadmap to the council at a May 20, 2026 work session. The plan recommends consolidating scattered ball fields into an expanded sports complex, converting downtown green spaces into a seasonal campground, and reducing turf maintenance across the city.

Kenai awarded Corvus Design a contract in 2025 to prepare the master plan. The city held a public workshop at the Kenai Chamber on April 29, 2026 and collected community feedback through an online survey that remained open until May 21. The Parks and Recreation Commission heard the plan on April 2 and recommended approval on May 7.

The city operates 14 parks on 364 acres with two major facilities: the Kenai Recreation Center and the multipurpose facility. Myrtle said the city exceeds national standards for parks but falls short on pickleball courts, the fastest-growing sport in the United States.

The plan proposes moving all baseball, soccer, and rugby fields to the sports complex, which currently sits on 20 acres but could expand to 70 acres using adjacent undeveloped parkland. Myrtle said consolidation would reduce maintenance costs and improve the user experience.

"You have Tyler and his crew driving all over the place maintaining ball fields all over the community," Myrtle said. "He's going to have one shop there. His crew can go and do all their work at one place rather than lots of windshield time going back and forth."

The plan also recommends converting the Green Strip and the Steve Shearer Memorial Ballpark area into community event space and a seasonal campground once the ball fields are relocated. Myrtle said the city currently maintains three large open green spaces but likely needs only one.

The city currently spends roughly $1.3 million annually on parks and recreation operations and personnel, with another $120,000 for capital improvements. Myrtle said the city recovers 16.6 percent of its revenue, below the national average of 31 percent but typical for Alaska communities. He noted that Kenai relies unusually heavily on tax-supported appropriations and suggested that local bonds could be a future funding tool.

The plan also recommends accessibility upgrades at parks and playgrounds, more regular facility inspections, standardized park equipment to simplify maintenance, and land use code changes including creation of a parks zoning classification.