Cemetery site search resumes

No fewer than 12 people have stepped up for appointment to Soldotna's revived Cemetery Task Force.

Locating a suitable site for a city cemetery will be the group's mission.

Mayor Dave Carey on Wednesday appointed Lisa Parker and Jim Fassler to lead the team, and said Councilwoman Betty Obendorf volunteered to serve as the group's council representative.

Also appointed were Nancy Eoff, Ryan Mills, Kenai Peninsula Borough Assemblyman Pete Sprague, Tina Taylor, former Mayor Tom Bearup and Katherine Parker. As alternates, Carey named Billie Gillilan, Dick Troeger and Neal DuPerron.

"No one who expressed interest has been left off the list," Carey said during the city council meeting.

Following numerous requests by Fassler, who had served on the city's cemetery task force before it was idled last year, City Manager Tom Boedeker said last month it was time to reconvene the group.

Prior efforts to find a suitable piece of government-owned land failed and Boedeker said the task force should not be restricted to only looking at government land. The purchase of privately-owned land should also be considered, he said.

Additionally he said, "If we are going to look at private land acquisition, then criteria need to be established to determine where we will look."

Criteria he listed include whether the land must be within city limits, if it must have an existing road leading to it, how large the parcel should be and how close it should be to densely populated areas.

Earlier, Boedeker named three city-owned parcels, each of which had limitations: a site on Kalifornsky Beach Road, currently being considered for a transitional housing facility; a 10-acre tract with limited road access at the end of Riverwatch Drive near a city sedimentation pond; and a site consisting of seven parcels at Karen Street Park, which would require removing the ski-snowboard hill and the skateboard park.

On Wednesday, Boedeker said he heard from the owners of some land adjacent to the Karen Street Park site, who said they might be interested in a land swap or a donation of land in trade for tax relief.

The council approved Carey's appointments unanimously.

Phil Hermanek can be reached at phillip.hermanek@peninsulaclarion.com.