Assembly Approved Borough Land Selection
A Lands of Local Importance Vision - ALLIV
Maps of selected lands are printable in 8.5 x 11 and located by area.
2013 Survey Results
Public Input is Pivotal as Kenai Peninsula Borough Evaluates Land Use
The heart of the Kenai Peninsula is its people, their lifestyle, and the ways they connect with the lands.
In order to be effective, responsible stewards of the land it is vital to understand the varied uses, needs, and opportunities that lay within the landscape. In an effort to identify which land uses are appropriate to include in land management planning, what lands within our borough boundary are currently being used for, and what the needs of the community are, both now and in the future, the public was encouraged to participate in a on line survey this past January and February 2013.
Over the six (6) weeks 1,172 surveys were completed which identified a total of 4,398 land use suggestions on 381 different parcels of state lands. A large number of responses identified that recreation and ecological resource management is important to continue on these lands with the appropriate addition of lands for community expansion and public services.
The borough has also identified recreation, ecological conservation, resource management, community expansion and community services as the basis for which to acquire and use public lands. These criteria were the basis for the selection of the remaining 27,000 municipal entitlement acreage that will be requested from the State of Alaska. Land parcels were identified based on their perceived value to the borough both currently and in the future.
Public input is at the core of this project. Once KPB receives the land it will be able to pursue its own classification process under KPB Chapter 17.10. This includes an additional public process set forth in that ordinance to determine the most appropriate classification and use of the land for the borough and its communities.
Thank you for your input and assistance in confirmation of these needs and specific lands. The information and communication is vital as we move toward land use planning.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE RECEIVED SURVEY RESULTS
Thank You!
Thank You Kenai Peninsula!
The heart of the Kenai Peninsula is its people, their lifestyle, and the ways they connect with the lands. The public responded to the KPB with great enthusiasm, conviction, and heart on questions of what public lands the borough should pursue under its municipal entitlement land grant and what uses are important to consider in the management of those public lands.. The support received from individuals as well as special interest groups and other government agencies was strong and effective. The comments received helped to create a vision for life on the peninsula. A vision for land selections and a vision for land use planning, both now and in the future. The people of the Kenai Peninsula assisted in the creation of “A Lands of Local Importance Vision” (ALLIV).
This selection of 27,000 acres completes the acquisition of state land through municipal entitlement. The public process however, does much more than that. It draws a picture of our home, our families, our communities, our residents, and our lives here on the peninsula. It creates a vision, ALLIV on the Kenai.
On July 2nd the KPB Assembly passed Resolution 2013-054 with a vote of unanimous support.
Upon completion of the state adjudication process KPB will begin its own classification process under KPB Chapter 17.10. This includes an additional public process; to determine the most appropriate classification and use of the land for the borough and its communities. The public comments received through our on line survey in January and February 2013 identified a total of 4,398 land uses. The public identified which land uses they considered appropriate to include in land management planning, what lands within our borough boundary are currently being used for, and what the needs of the community are, both now and in the future. This public opinion is vital to the KPB as we strive to be effective, responsible stewards of the land. It is vital to understand the varied uses, needs, and opportunities that lay within our landscape.
Thank you for sharing your vision, for your assistance in confirmation of these needs, and identification of specific lands that are important to you. The information and communication that has been established as a very important building block as we move toward land use planning on the Kenai Peninsula.
Click Here to View Memo from the Mayor's Office
Click Here to View Resolution 2013-054
Click Here To View The Survey Results
Land Selection 2015 Status
Municipal Entitlement Land Selections Update:
Region 2 – Seward Highway from Hope “Y”
to the South Fork of Kenai Lake
Region 3 – Seward Highway and Resurrection Bay
Region 6 – Kasilof River Drainage
Region 7 – Homer
(Including Ninilchik River, Deep Creek, and Anchor River Drainages)
ADL #’s 63912, 201306, 227985, 201305, 229760, 55708, 55713, 55728, 227969, 227978, 227988, 227996, 53281, 55740, 55745, 55746, 64632, 206345, 206346, 206348, 206349, 217089, 222751, 227977, 227998, 228340
The State of Alaska, Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has issued a Final Finding and Decision on the above areas containing 42,944 acres.
This decision, dated February 24, 2015 will convey to the Kenai Peninsula Borough (KPB) 5,282 acres, conditionally convey and postpone conveyance of 3,369 acres and rejects the conveyance of 24,692 acres. In addition to these acres the KPB relinquished (removed from a selection application) 9,601 acres.
After a significant KPB public outreach and review process DNR has completed the adjudication of our selections contained in these areas. DNR listed the reasons for conveyance and rejection of the land selections in the decision document. In review, DNR finds that lands must be properly classified with supporting management intent to be transferred to the KPB. DNR has decided that those lands that are inconsistent with DNR’s Kenai Area Plan, Kenai River Comprehensive Plan or where a state interest exists warrants state ownership to be retained.
View DNR Maps, Final Findings & Decision Conveyance of Land Posted February 24, 2015 http://dnr.alaska.gov/mlw/muni/
View Borough Maps of the Final Finding and Decision:
KAP Region 2 – Seward Highway from Hope 'Y' to the South End of Kenai Lake
Hope “Y” to Summit (pdf)
Moose Pass (pdf)
KAP Region 3 – Seward and Resurrection Bay
Seward (pdf)
KAP Region 6 – Kasilof River Drainage
Kasilof to Clam Gulch (pdf)
KAP Region 7 – Homer (including Ninilchik River, Deep Creek, and Anchor River drainages)
Clam Gulch to Anchor Point (pdf)
Anchor Point to Kachamak Bay (pdf)
Acreage breakdown of Regions 2, 3, 6, & 7 February 24, 2015 Decision:
Region 2, 3, 6, & 7 (33,343 acres)
8,651 acres to CONVEY, CONDITIONALLY CONVEY AND POSTPONE CONVEY
24,692 acres to REJECT
Region 2 – SEWARD HIGHWAY FROM HOPE “Y”, MOOSE PASS TO THE SOUTH FORK OF KENAI LAKE (9,104 acres EXISTING SELECTION)
3,258 acres to CONVEY, CONDITIONALLY CONVEY AND POSTPONE CONVEY
5,846 acres to REJECT
Region 3 – SEWARD AND RESURRECTION BAY (3,323 acres EXISTING SELECTION)
757 acres to CONVEY
2,566 acres to REJECT
Region 6 – KASILOF RIVER DRAINAGE (1,358 acres EXISTING SELECTION)
998 acres to CONVEY
360 acres to REJECT
Region 7 – HOMER INCLUDING NINILCHIK RIVER, DEEP CREEK, AND ANCHOR POINT (19,151 acres EXISTING SELECTION)
3,231 acres to CONVEY, CONDITIONALLY CONVEY AND POSTPONE CONVEY
15,920 acres to REJECT
State of Alaska Municipal Entitlement Process Summary
Each selection requested by KPB will be reviewed by the State for consistency within existing policy and state statute A.S. 29.65.050(c). The State adjudicates each selection and makes a recommendation to approve, deny or conditionally approve the selection.
To accomplish the first step the State initiates an Interagency Review. This allows agencies (Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game, Parks and Rec, Transportation, etc.) to have the opportunity to review the selection and make comments.
The second step includes the public notice as required by AS 38.05.945 where the State of Alaska issues a Preliminary Decision. This notice invites public comment. A public notice will be posted in two locations, one of which is the State of Alaska web site. Only those persons who provide commentary on the Preliminary Decision are eligible to participate in the fourth step.
The third step includes the State reviewing the comments received in the second step prior to issuing a Final Finding and Decision formally rejecting or approving the selections.
The fourth step includes the State of Alaska issuing a Final Finding and Decision. This decision identifies what lands are conveyed to the borough and what lands the state retains. The Final Finding and Decision process provides a short period of time that allows for an eligible person or persons to request a reconsideration or stay of the Final Finding to the Commissioner of the Department of Natural Resources. If reconsideration is not requested the Final Finding and Decision stands and goes into effect, thus transferring to the borough management authority of those lands conveyed.
The State has segregated the Kenai Peninsula Borough into 12 separate Kenai Area Plan (KAP) Regions. The follow KAP Regions have received a recent decision:
KAP REGIONS 2, 3, 6, & 7
Seward Highway from the Hope “Y” through Moose Pass to Seward and a portion of Resurrection Bay, and that area from Kasilof south including Clam Gulch, Ninilchik, Anchor Pont, Homer to the head of Kachemak Bay.
Final Finding and Decision Issued February 24, 2015
Corresponding Maps by Region:
KAP Region 2 - Hope “Y” to Summit
KAP Region 2 - Moose Pass
KAP Region 3 - Seward
KAP Region 6 - Kasilof to Clam Gulch
KAP Region 7 - Clam Gulch to Anchor Point
KAP Region 7 - Anchor Point to Kachamak Bay
Copy of Final Decision
KAP REGIONS 1, 5, 8, & 9
Hope, Point Possession to Kenai River, Upper Kachemak Bay & Fox River Flats, Southside Kachemak Bay & Chugiak Islands
Final Finding and Decision Issured January 23,2015
Corresponding Maps by Region:
KAP Region 1 – Hope (Including Sunrise and Turnagain Pass)
KAP Region 5 – Coastal Plain from Point Possession to Kenai River
KAP Region 8 – Upper Kachemak Bay and Fox River Flats
KAP Region 9 – South Side Kachemak Bay and Chugiak Islands
Copy of Final Decision
KAP Region 4
Cooper Landing Final Decision issued July 30, 2014
Final Decision with Special Exception to the Kenai Area Plan
Final Decision Map
Subcategories
We conducted a comprehensive survey of residents to improve boroughwide services to the public. Thousands participated in the survey by answering our questions and providing valuable comments. Your documented comments and feedback are directly helping guide improvements to road service and the many other roles the borough plays on the Kenai. We will continue to ensure that KPB residents receive quality services that they pay for at the lowest cost possible.
We have placed ourselves in the shoes of the taxpayer. Under the Micciche administration, for the first time in a decade, a balanced boroughwide budget was passed by the assembly. We accomplished this while reducing your mill rate (property taxes). Prior to my administration, the previous two years saw a 16% increase in the KPB budget. The Micciche administration’s overall budget increased by only 2.55%. The general fund budget was also reduced from last year’s and, leading by example, my Mayor’s Department budget decreased as well.
Working with the Kenai Peninsula School District, we are helping to bolster and improve home-school options. Trying to see things through the eyes of home-school parents, students and families helps us be responsive to the 30% of our students who are home-schooled. It is imperative that we understand and meet their needs.
We are working to make KPB Emergency Services as efficient as possible to better serve the people of the Kenai. Our view and current national practices demonstrate that combined regional services are far more efficient, and effective, and are provided at a lower cost to taxpayers than many smaller service areas. We also procured and distributed life-saving extrication equipment for our emergency responders to help them meet the highway rescue challenges faced in rural areas of the borough.
We updated and implemented anti-harassment and anti-bullying policies to ensure the safety of KPB employees and protect taxpayers from legal and settlement costs. This includes a confidential reporting system, a mixed-gender review panel, and improved public official bonding requirements to protect the borough from financial liability.
We responded in record time to condemn and remove the collapsing Zipmart building in Sterling, which had become a serious hazard to children and youth in a location right next to the elementary school and the community center.
We created a limited-in-scope ordinance that will update and clarify borough code regarding KPB elections. These changes will ensure that our elections continue to be safe, secure, transparent and accurate. A few of the improvements this ordinance will make include giving more information to the public about when the canvass board meets, requiring the hand-counting of ballots in at least one randomly selected precinct even in the absence of any discrepancies, creating a clear process for write-in candidates, and adding additional and improved viewing areas for citizen election observers.
We are tackling long-standing issues within the borough in partnership with KPB constituents, local governments and state and federal agencies. These issues include K-Beach and Eastern Peninsula flooding, KPB housing shortages (particularly in the southern and eastern Kenai Peninsula), rural emergency services support, and communication service gaps. We are also mitigating the overregulation of our citizens through common-sense solutions in partnership with those we serve within the KPB.
We awarded 44 capital improvement and professional services design contracts, as well as servicing pass-through funding to the private sector and non-profit grant recipients for services ranging from senior citizen programs to community groups. Funded projects include the new Central Emergency Service station, the new Soldotna Elementary School, CPH and SPH hospital projects, Eastway Road drainage improvements, the replacement of siding on Homer Elementary School, and many others.
We made improvements to KPB Solid Waste Management to reduce the enormous cost increases in that department that have occurred in previous years. We have reopened reuse areas, such as the “Sterling Mall” and are evaluating how to further reduce storing marketable materials in perpetuity in our landfills. The team is also evaluating the most efficient methods to reduce and process regulated leachate to reduce costs to taxpayers.
In accordance with KPB code, senior center funding is redistributed every 10 years after the census is conducted and shows how many seniors currently live in each area of the borough. Many centers had their funding increased through the current formula in the FY24 budget, but several were dramatically reduced. Working with KPB staff, Mayor Micciche created a “hold harmless” solution to fully fund all centers and to ensure that none of our seniors will go without critical services. The “hold harmless” solution passed the assembly unanimously.
We have created open lines of communication so that all citizens can participate in our efforts to challenge how the KPB does business through common-sense solutions to long-standing, inefficient practices. Government is known for falling into ruts of inefficiency. By working with you, we are challenging each department to break out of long-standing ruts and take the fast road of maximum efficiency. In other words, we seek to provide quality services at the lowest cost to the taxpayer with an objective to keep the KPB affordable today, tomorrow, and for our kids and grandkids.
