Kenai's updated land plan would auction part of the sports complex parcel for housing

An update to Kenai's Land Management Plan would carve off part of the Kenai Sports Complex parcel along Evergreen Street and auction it for future residential development. The Kenai Airport Commission meets at 6 pm Thursday, Nov. 12, at Kenai City Hall to consider recommending that the City Council adopt the plan.

The plan covers 376 city-owned parcels, up from 369, including land around Kenai Municipal Airport. It tells developers which parcels are available to lease and which could be bought after development, Planning Director Kevin Buettner wrote in a memo. The council adopted the city's first plan June 15, 2022. Buettner wrote that land auctions and sales, along with updated Kenai Peninsula Borough data, made that plan inaccurate.

The memo recommends subdividing "a portion in the northeast corner" of the sports complex parcel for the auction. The 2022 plan describes that parcel as 53.8 acres with four regulation-size soccer fields and recommends keeping it. It says 25 acres developed with a federal Land and Water Conservation Fund grant must stay in public outdoor recreation in perpetuity, unless the city replaces them with land of equal value. The memo does not say whether the auction land overlaps those 25 acres.

The council has been clearing land for the plan's sale recommendations. Earlier this year it removed the public purpose designation from six city parcels. A new ordinance would do the same for Carl F. Ahlstrom Park.

The draft resolution calls for a Planning and Zoning Commission hearing Nov. 17 and council passage Nov. 18. It would take effect 30 days later.