Kenai: 11/12/2026 Airport Commission Meeting

You are on the record. Okay, thank you. I would like to call the November 12th, 2026 Airport Commission regular our meeting to order. If you're able, will you please rise and join me in the pledge?

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 roll call. Chair Fiekken. Here. Vice Chair Mielga. Here.

Commissioner Zuerl. Commercial— uh, Commissioner Bielefeld. Here.

Commissioner Kniesek. Commissioner Wicker. Here. Commissioner Bremer. Here.

You have a quorum. Thank you. Is there a motion to approve the agenda? Move.

Second. Okay. Are there any revisions? We, uh, we have a laydown. I guess you've all seen, uh, are there— is there an objection to approving the agenda?

With the laydown?

Okay. Did I leave something out or did I get it all? Thank you. Okay.

Public comment, we have none.

Seeing no members of the public that would like to speak, we'll move on unless there's somebody remote.

Okay, uh, may I have a motion to approve the October 8th, 2026 minutes? Move.

Second. Thank you. Are there any revisions to the minutes?

Uh, are there any objections to approving the minutes? Hearing no minutes— the objections— the minutes are approved. Okay, unfinished business, we have none.

May I have a motion to recommend the council approve the 2026 land management plan?

Move.

Second. Okay, do we have a report?

All right, thank you, Chair Fiekken. Uh, through the airport manager, um, my name is Kevin Buettner. I'm the planning director for the city of Kenai, and our staff has been working since about June to start updating our land management plan, which contains all the city-owned lots, uh, throughout the city, to include some of our submerged tidelands. Uh, a significant portion of those lots do are still held in the airport fund. So, uh, as we— most of them have been released by the FAA, uh, with the exception of anything that's in the reserve.

Um, so I do have a draft copy. Um, I've given it to the chairwoman. Um, it's been streamlined. So any sales that we've had over the past, um, 4 years— when the last one was done in 2022, we've had a couple of auctions. We sold some for gravel pits, some for residential.

We've also acquired some land, and then the borough's scrubbing their data, and so some things that had been merged into what looked like one parcel was actually two or three lots that are still independent. They're not subdivided. So there's been some more administrative changes like those. So what we did is go through, scrub everything, make sure that if there's public purpose designations that we've identified how those were put on, so different ordinances or resolutions. We just want to make sure that we have an up-to-date inventory of everything we have, so as people approach the city, or even as we market ourselves as a place where we want both people to live and build houses and for companies to come, you know, make sure we have something up to date so that we can speak intelligently for everything.

And this, like I said, a lot of this does benefit the airport because if these Some of these parcels are leased and/or sold. All that revenue goes into the airport fund for the betterment of the airport. So, um, as a major stakeholder in this process, we wanted to bring it to your commission. Um, I did draft an analysis, um, kind of showing what changed. Um, not every single line by line because we would be here forever, um, going through that, but We did update the executive summary, the introduction.

The big thing that we did change is retention status to recommendations because ultimately these are what we think are the best uses for the land. So there will be some that will be unavailable because they're already under lease, a lot of the lots on the airport. There'll be some that are available for lease only because that's how the FAA released it. There are some for available for sale and lease. Uh, there will also be some that are just public use, so parks and the like.

Um, then the other one could— there could be a partial development opportunity. So some larger parcels, maybe a chunk of it could be developed, but the rest of it is held for some other reason. Um, we have a few places around town, just large unwieldy-shaped parcels that we could carve pieces out. Um, so we went through all of the different maps. I believe now we have 44 total.

We did remove a couple of them because of selling the land. We no longer needed that map because we don't have anything in that subdivision. But if you have any questions, I'll try to answer them. But we just wanted to make sure that you knew that we were providing this update so that we could keep ourselves ready for development at any time.

I just had a question. Question, it's all of these, all of the different maps, I saw remove table and, 'cause we were here when Paul was doing the whole thing before with this land management change and it was real welcome change too at that time because it really pulled things together and it seems like it's tightening up. I was just, when I was reading this, and I'm not, I am not an expert, I was just wondering why the verbiage changing retention status to recommendation. Why is, why is that important? So we felt retention status was more the recommendation for council.

Should we retain this partial? Should we not? And it was like retain or dispose, but it wasn't very clear what those terms meant. So we wanted this inventory to be a little bit more what is the public if the public's looking at this, what, what are they going to get out of it? So for a developer, if it says unavailable, done, you know, that's the end of discussion.

Public use, same thing. Um, council set aside that for a reason. Um, but we did have those places where it may— maybe the entire parcel is not ready, maybe it needs to be subdivided, then it can be developed. So we thought partial development opportunity or available, uh, for lease or sale was a little bit more clear to the public and for future developers versus what we were using it for internally and administratively. So we just changed that verbiage just to make it a little clearer, more on a marketing standpoint.

Thanks.

Did this change the zoning classification of any of the airport lands? No, uh, this— no zoning. We did last summer, we did do an update to the zone. We had a number of split zones. A couple of were near the airport, um, and we did fix— I believe it was one of the first times I met this commission— to allow the airport to be in its own zone, um, because that was an oversight in our land use table.

So the zoning stayed the same. It will just be— um, and we didn't even change necessarily the intention. A lot of it, if it was said to be disposed in some way, lease or sale, uh, we left, we left that in. We just again changed the verbiage, not the intent.

Are these maps available online? They will be. We, um, this— once it's adopted, this document, this PDF document, will be up. But we are, over the winter, um, and our goal is by the end of the fiscal year in June to have a digital companion that will be interactive, and you'll be able to click each individual lot and get all the information that's in that table, um, in one, in one sitting. We just don't have that yet, but we wanted to get the content there and get that published first.

And then as we've seen, it started to snow, so now we'll have a little bit more time hanging out indoors to get that digital companion built.

I know this might be a little bit out of the realm here, but just a question. Earlier this year, we talked about— the Civil Air Patrol property potentially changing ownership or shrinking the size of the footprint of what CAP has and then transferring part of that to the city of Kenai. And we forwarded all the information to Mr. Eubank and basically talked about doing that. And then they started pursuing that with the Air Force. But I haven't heard anything since.

Do you know anything more about that? Yes, um, so we did reach out to the Air Force, um, the 673rd Squadron up there, and— or the wing rather. And so as when they deeded us the airport back in '63, they did reserve the right to hold pieces of it for the use of the government. Um, so that roughly 5-acre section around CAP is not— it's not ours. It's managed by the government, and there is a process to potentially do some changes to it, but it would be a very long, drawn-out federal process.

So at the time, I think for now, we've kind of put a pin in it to research possible other avenues that we could look at. And I think the other thing was we were kind of waiting for our master plan to also catch up and be, um, be up to date. And that way, if, if that was something we would want in the future— but I think at this point nothing else has happened because it kind of was our city attorney when he was listening was like, uh, this is— it's going to be an onerous process and there's no guarantee would actually be fruitful. So right now it's not off the table, but it's kind of got a pin in it off to the side.

Any other questions?

I think we're good. Thank you for coming. Thank you.

Okay. Can we have a vote or do we have Unanna's decision to Support. Okay, I— then we have unanimous, uh, consent. Thank you. Uh, our next one, may I have a motion to recommend the council approve the, uh, special use permit for the American Red Cross?

I move.

Okay, do we have a staff report on that? Yes, ma'am. So the Red Cross currently leases 475 square feet of the second floor of the ARFF training facility. They want to renew that lease with the same terms and conditions that they currently have, essentially paying a monthly fee for the utilities of $211.44.

And then a dollar per month, uh, plus that fee. So same conditions to continue to operate as they do. Okay, thank you. Any questions?

Okay, if I see no objection, I'm going to ask for unanimous consent. Okay, thank you. May we have Airport Manager Johnson give us his report?

Yes, thank you again.

Just go over a couple projects.

As far as the runway project goes, the reconstruction of the runway, there was two lights that were damaged during the construction. The contractor— there's a long lead time for those items. They have replaced those items, the FAA would not schedule a flight check. The aircraft had left Alaska and so they wouldn't schedule a flight check until those were up and operating. They needed the full services to perform a flight check to get the ILS up and running.

Right now we have RNAV and the other approaches, GPS approaches, but the ILS is down. So now that the lights are fixed, our consultant and the FAA is trying to get that aircraft, aircraft up here to do the flight check. It's tentative. Hopefully by the end of the month, that's what we've been tracking. But again, it's, it's on their time schedule and when the aircraft can get back up here.

So that's kind of where that sits.

We've completed Phase 1 of the master plan, and we're just finishing up the closeout documentation for that. So we're working with finance to get that grant closed out. If you recall, the full master plan was broken down into 2 phases, Phase 1 and then Phase 2. Phase 1 You guys, the city and staff and the commission alternate for is what was selected. So they're just finalizing that and we're starting phase 2.

Phase 2 of the master plan is a phasing funding and cost associated with those individual projects. Um, to kind of add to that, we're still waiting for the FAA to provide comments, additional comments on Alternate 4 that was selected. Um, a little sidebar, we have a meeting with the FAA next week to go over our airport capital improvement projects. Um, we plan out based on the master plan, so, uh, we are using the master plan and Alt. 4 As part of this process to move projects forward now.

So it's coming down to funding over the next 3 years, what the FAA can fund for the airport. Obviously, there's a cost share with the sponsor of the city. So we'll know more next week on where we move forward with Taxiway Alpha and the other taxiways that need to be reconstructed. So more to follow on that.

No real updates on the perimeter fence project. It's due to start in April and be completed by before winter, September timeframe.

Last time I gave you an update that we met with Nielsen Engineering about the stormwater pollution prevention plan. That is currently back in our hands. Airport staff were reviewing it, I'm reviewing it, uh, and then we'll get closer to closing out the stormwater pollution prevention plan and getting that updated and submitted to the state. Um, we have been in discussions with and had a site visit with Beta Technologies They want to install a charging station, an aircraft charging station on the airfield. So we've kind of left it up to them to— we've showed them where we think it can go, and they're going to kind of review that and look at it and get back to us on some possible locations.

To install that. They, they want to partner with a cargo company to use electric aircraft to move cargo between here and two other airports.

If the project does move forward and the city would like to have that partnership, They're looking at about a year timeframe, and Beta Technologies will fully fund the project themselves, so there would be no cost to the airport or the city.

And that's really about it. The guys cleaned up the small amount of snow. They were on top of it this morning, and I pretty— they did a pretty good job. The pavement's cleared, a little bit wet, but other than that, it looks good out there. So happy to answer any questions.

Thank you. Uh, just back to the lights again. Um, are they— so they're, they're all fixed? That's correct. Okay.

Are they able to be turned on? Are they available? No, they cannot be turned on until the flight check is performed by the FAA. Okay, can't sneak out there in the middle of the night and throw the switch. They've been turned on, but just to make sure they work.

Okay,. Question for you. I know this came up at the beginning of the airport construction project, but we had the issues about designating alternate approaches to Taxiway Alpha versus the runway, and city ended up buying approach, I believe, with possible additional funding from grant. Is that right? Or— grant, maybe they've got their own done, but I'm not clear.

Yeah. And go ahead. Grant funded their own approaches, and the city paid for approaches for—. From what I understand, talking with the FAA liaison down in Seattle, Um, to keep those, I guess, in our back pocket for possible use later, Taxiway Alpha, um, I think was measured and was, um, for this particular instance. And it has to be officially designated as an alternate runway.

I've got the guy's name and number, and I talked to Eric Jord about that, and he said that wasn't part of the scope of work, and it might cost about another $10,000 to get that memorialized. So if something ever happens to the runway, say we get an earthquake and got a crack right in the middle and Taxiway Alpha is undamaged, we can transition over to that. I just— I'd hate to see just all that money and that effort go away when we have an opportunity to get that. That's just a comment.

And the other thing is the charging station. That's interesting. Where, where is that? Where's that? Where's the potential place going to be?

There? The potential is the closest they can get to 3-phase power, which would be to the south of the terminal. But that conflicts with terminal expansion. And so they're, they're looking at other areas, possibly north of the terminal. It's not— we're not going to allow it to impact current operations, but we're just— we're trying to see what they come up with and if we can make something work.

I always thought Kenai was uniquely positioned to have a cold weather trial for electric cargo aircraft between Kenai and Anchorage. You know, short distance, got infrastructure on both ends. I always thought it'd be kind of interesting to have that done.

The other thing is just real short housekeeping issue on the perimeter fence project. It says starting April 15, 2026. I'm assuming that's 2027.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And let's see, there was one more.

I'll think about it.

Old age. Quick question about the charging station. What is the time frame on this? Because of course, you know, right now I don't know that there's any aircraft available to do what they're wanting to.

Do? Like I said, it's about a year. This— it'll be located at 3 airports, and the type of aircraft is the CX-300.

I remembered. What's the status of the remote tower we have? So it's still in testing.

They— I have a meeting scheduled to start a— figure out their process for fiber. They have to bring fiber into it. So it's up and running in the testing phase mode.

Other than that, I don't have a lot to update other than they need to install fiber. And someone reached out to me yesterday to try to set up a meeting. I don't know if the outlook affected you guys today, but it affected us here. So Outlook's been down all day.

Okay, any other questions? Okay, thank you very much. I have no report, so we'll move on to our city liaison. Thank you. I don't have much of a report.

We had no ordinances before us. At our last meeting we had one resolution, and that was simply to approve the 2027 calendar schedule of our meetings. Um, there are a couple action approvals.

Um, we're scheduling a work session to, to discuss the city's first 5-year strategic plan, and then we have a couple of, um meetings scheduled. Um, there's some appeals that are coming via Planning and Zoning for special use permits that we have to hear testimony on. So that was it, not much of a report. Okay, thank you, thank you. Good to have you back.

Thank you. Uh, seeing no additional public comment. Okay, I, I did forget one thing. Um, I sent you guys an email to a link to complete a survey a couple weeks ago. Can— trying to get everybody to do the survey.

I will send out a reminder email again next week or tomorrow and then probably follow up with another reminder on the 20th. Okay. I filled it out. Can you tell if you got it? I can't tell.

Okay, but I did fill it out and send it back. Yeah, there hasn't been a lot of feedback that they've been completed. They're looking at other options, maybe printing them off and giving you the ability to write them versus some people are— I'm not saying you guys, I'm just saying technologically challenged like myself sometimes. So, but your input would be very valuable to this survey. So I will send the link out again tomorrow.

And hopefully you guys can help us out and get it completed. I don't know, have any of you seen the survey? It's, it's very thoughtful, and I think your input would be very helpful. What's the survey in regards to? Because I don't think I've seen it.

It is for the 5-year strategic plan. Well, it's a planning. So we've come on board. We have one of the universities that are helping us through this strategic plan for the vision and the future of the city. So I'll send you updated information tomorrow.

It'll be the University of Kansas. Yes, thank you.

But there really is some very thoughtful questions, which I think, you know, is important to us.

Okay, so seeing no public comment, our next meeting is December 10th. Will everybody be here? Okay, looking for commissioners' questions and comments.

Okay, then I guess I'm just going to say we're adjourned. Okay.

I do. I mean, I've got, I've got it plugged in. I mean, I've got it so I can turn it on, you know, through my phone, but.