Video Clips
Quoted moments from Alaska public meetings, hearings, and press conferences.
0:24
Matt Schwartz
“it's nice to think about this fall and just on visitors, but I'm thinking about businesses. Amount of money I've spent at Piston and Rudder, or I just ordered $80,000 worth of engines from Napa. So it does fall on businesses as well, and the local businesses will generate probably quite a bit more money than the visitors from out of town.”Assembly Meeting · May 20, 2026
0:16
Speaker B
“just want to, uh, say congratulations that we got our certificate of need. Yes, another big, big hurdle.”PMC Hospital Board Meeting April 2026 · May 7, 2026
0:36
Speaker A
“if you're going to go over so many feet, You gotta go through the process for conditional use permit. Okay, so that way there are just things, anything that we say up to so tall, it's by right, up to such and such a standard, it's by right. But if you want to exceed those, then you do have the option of filing for conditional use permit”Planning Commission Meeting 5.12.2026 · May 12, 2026
0:16
Speaker A
“there's those ones up. Up Twin Creek, the back of those, there's 2 privately owned industrial lots and a state of Alaska lot. And again, it would be a strip along the back of those would be a good location, I think.”Planning Commission Meeting 5.12.2026 · May 12, 2026
0:49
Speaker A
“there's up, uh, Three Lakes Loop Road to where the mill is, and then there's some mental health land right around the mill, but this big Lot 12 that's right there is owned by the State of Alaska. And that would be a good potential location as well, because that is up at elevation.”Planning Commission Meeting 5.12.2026 · May 12, 2026
0:56
Speaker B
“it's because of the community desire to choose and recommend certain sites to wireless communication companies, um, so as to limit surprise and have some sort of public input in the locations, um, and kind of ease that process.”Planning Commission Meeting 5.12.2026 · May 12, 2026
0:19
Speaker B
“another reason for this overlay is the Telecommunications Act does not permit municipalities to totally ban towers. And so that's why we're— that's a big reason why we're doing this.”Planning Commission Meeting 5.12.2026 · May 12, 2026
0:45
Speaker A
“It also makes it easier for them if they do want to put in a tower, they can— they go and look at the map and say, obviously, these are the locations the borough would like us to put cell towers to give the most setback to the residential and everything else, but also is properties that have good locations, and then they can pick off that list what will meet their needs the best.”Planning Commission Meeting 5.12.2026 · May 12, 2026
0:23
Speaker B
“the good thing about the notice process is that, you know, anything we're including in the overlay, we have to notice private persons. And so they would get a chance to say, like, no, I don't want this in the overlay, or I very much do want this in the overlay.”Planning Commission Meeting 5.12.2026 · May 12, 2026
0:30
Speaker A
“if the individual owner wants it, right? That's the benefit of the notice process, because I do know there are people in town who very much want to be able to sell, and there's some very much don't. So it's good to get it in writing.”Planning Commission Meeting 5.12.2026 · May 12, 2026
0:19
Speaker A
“It would just give them the right to sell property to a cell tower and have a cell tower put in without having to go through the whole conditional use process or anything else. So, which would make it simpler and would also encourage towers to be in locations we want them to be.”Planning Commission Meeting 5.12.2026 · May 12, 2026
0:32
Speaker A
“we also should include, you know, the areas where the cell towers already exist on Forest Service land outside of— so the top of Lindenberg Peak and the top of Crystal Mountain.”Planning Commission Meeting 5.12.2026 · May 12, 2026
0:37
Speaker B
“they also had language saying that 110% of the height of the tower was the distance you had to be from another property, from property line. So we would want that also, right?”Planning Commission Meeting 5.12.2026 · May 12, 2026
0:31
Speaker A
“on this lot up by the Baylor facility, the stuff up closer to the Baylor facility is probably the area that would be the best. That's the reason why I kind of split that, you know, the line doesn't go all— cover that whole lot, because otherwise you're getting down closer to the residential.”Planning Commission Meeting 5.12.2026 · May 12, 2026
0:38
Speaker A
“my ask for you is to help me bring this grant home. Uh, these grants are highly competitive and, uh, the reviewers look at them and, uh, they look for local, uh, commitment to, uh, matching funds. So if they don't see the resolution in my grant application that has a matching funds resolution in there, they may deem it noncompliant or they may dismiss it. So having this support from the council really gives me a fighting chance for these grants”Regular City Council Meeting · May 8, 2026
0:19
Speaker A
“right now it's inefficient. The backbone's inefficient. If we had power at the dock right now for cruise ships, we couldn't do it. With this, we can supply that power.”Regular City Council Meeting · May 8, 2026
0:31
Speaker A
“We also get, as part of this project, we get the 5 new breakers, and we get the relays and the automation to go with those 5 breakers. We get 9 automated pull-top reclosers. We get the SCADA and the PLCs to go with that. And we have money in there for the fiber optic backbone going to those components”Regular City Council Meeting · May 8, 2026
0:29
Speaker A
“74% Paid for and enables the load and enables us to sell the power in the future date. The project goes over 48 months. So, with the first year, it would be the engineering and the planning, and the years 1, 2, and 3 would be the construction and the commissioning in the very last year.”Regular City Council Meeting · May 8, 2026
0:23
Speaker A
“the council met in an executive session. Uh, we worked on negotiations with Mr. Adams and did not reach an agreement. Mr. Adams turned down our final offers.”Regular City Council Meeting · May 1, 2026
0:23
Speaker A
“I'd like to thank all the councilmen for their due diligence and hard work in this matter. It's not easy”Regular City Council Meeting · May 1, 2026
0:37
Speaker A
“The City of Kenai seeking to rezone portion of one 81-acre parcel located at 10060 Kenai Square Highway from Conservation to the Suburban Residential Zoning District. Purpose of the rezone is to allow for low to medium density residential development adjacent to existing residential neighborhoods”4/29/2026 Planning & Zoning Commission Regular Meeting · Apr 30, 2026
0:49
Speaker A
“The administration believes rezoning to R-1 would likely deter development of the property due to the required minimum lot size of 20,000 square feet compared to 7,200 square feet in the Suburban Residential Zone.”4/29/2026 Planning & Zoning Commission Regular Meeting · Apr 30, 2026
0:33
Speaker A
“Approximately 10 to 15 acres of these uplands are suitable or may be suitable for residential development.”4/29/2026 Planning & Zoning Commission Regular Meeting · Apr 30, 2026
0:25
Michael Bowles
“your ordinance absolutely brings another tax on top of the taxes that we have. It is, um, an obvious attempt to circumvent or kill my tax ordinance, and when I see it again on the agenda, I will also move to remove it again.”Assembly Regular Meeting - May 19th, 2026 · May 20, 2026
1:01
Michael Bowles
“what your ordinance does is it masks tax, the raising of our taxes with a $75,000 tax exemption, and knowing that a future assembly can come in here and raise the levy to 10, knowing that a future assembly can always remove that 10 mill rate cap and raise it to God knows what in the future.”Assembly Regular Meeting - May 19th, 2026 · May 20, 2026
0:26
Maxwell Sumner
“this does actually not repeal property taxes. It does give a discount, but it, it adds a sales tax on top of property tax. And, uh, I mean, the last time a sales tax in addition to the property tax was on the ballot, it failed 3 to 1.”Assembly Regular Meeting - May 19th, 2026 · May 20, 2026
0:22
Bill Gamble
“Speaking as one person that's been out there standing there watching the bank just slough off into the river at an incredible pace, this should have been done a long time ago, and it is absolutely a no-brainer.”Assembly Regular Meeting - May 19th, 2026 · May 20, 2026
0:32
Bill Gamble
“I think it's really bad precedence to deny an assembly member the ability to have their legislation at least heard and discussed, whether you agree with it or not. I'd like to hear all of the details and the arguments on any piece of legislation. And I just think it's terrible that you just take somebody's work and flush it down the toilet because you don't like it.”Assembly Regular Meeting - May 19th, 2026 · May 20, 2026
0:23
Michael Bowles
“I would like to pull Ordinance 26-065 from introductions, and I move to postpone indefinitely.”Assembly Regular Meeting - May 19th, 2026 · May 20, 2026
0:29
Stephanie Nowers
“I think it's it's really important to have public input, and this is just another idea on the table. I've heard loud and clear that people want lower property taxes, and this is one way to get there, that it just gives people ideas. And I think it could generate ideas from the public that would be good for us.”Assembly Regular Meeting - May 19th, 2026 · May 20, 2026
0:18
Michael Bowles
“what this ordinance aims to do is actually introduce a sales tax on top of already existing taxes, and there is no appetite for that in my opinion, and I don't think we should be spending time on this.”Assembly Regular Meeting - May 19th, 2026 · May 20, 2026
0:35
Michael Bowles
“what my ordinance aims to do is remove a tax, which is the area-wide tax, area-wide property tax, and replace it with a sales tax. And at the same time, it puts guardrails and barriers in place that a future assembly cannot bring back an area-wide property tax.”Assembly Regular Meeting - May 19th, 2026 · May 20, 2026
0:15
Irvin Carlson
“I know you mentioned that we were doing like a work study session. Do you have like a preferable like date range that you're looking at by any chance?”05/07/26 Parks and Recreation Commission Meeting · May 8, 2026
0:31
Speaker B
“Last night, City Council approved to do a work session before their next meeting to go through a similar presentation that you guys went up.”05/07/26 Parks and Recreation Commission Meeting · May 8, 2026
0:25
Speaker B
“On April 2nd, the draft City of Kenai Parks and Rec Master Plan was presented to the Parks and Rec Commission for review and discussion. No changes or recommendations were provided by the commissions or members of the public in attendance.”05/07/26 Parks and Recreation Commission Meeting · May 8, 2026
0:18
Irvin Carlson
“Regarding the work session, I was just inquiring if you were looking into preferable dates.”05/07/26 Parks and Recreation Commission Meeting · May 8, 2026
0:26
Speaker B
“I drive bus up and down those streets, and I know how many kids are out there when I come up to do a stop, and there are a lot of kids there. And putting it on CACNU is better. There are more stops on CACNU than there are on Candlelight. And I think that blocking off the access to CACNU is the right thing to do.”5/13/2026 Planning & Zoning Commission Regular Meeting · May 14, 2026
0:25
Speaker A
“Staff finds that the proposed variance request meets the criteria for issuance of a variance permit as set forth in Kenai Municipal Code Section 1421.8 and hereby recommends that the Planning and Zoning Commission approve the variance permit”5/13/2026 Planning & Zoning Commission Regular Meeting · May 14, 2026
0:39
Speaker A
“Special conditions or circumstances are present which are peculiar to the land or structures involved, which are not applicable to other lands or structures in the same land use or zoning district. Findings: Subject property currently has double frontage access. With the proposed build, the double frontage will be eliminated, eliminating a secondary traffic conflict point.”5/13/2026 Planning & Zoning Commission Regular Meeting · May 14, 2026
0:31
Speaker A
“the granting of the variance shall not authorize a use that is not a permitted principal use in the zoning district in which the property is located. The granting of the variance will resolve the double frontage, furthermore allow for the site plan to comply with city requirements for the construction of 2 new multi-family structures, which is, which is needed commodity within the community.”5/13/2026 Planning & Zoning Commission Regular Meeting · May 14, 2026