Kenai council hears appeal, presentations

The Kenai City Council held a board of adjustments hearing Sept. 18 in which a Planning and Zoning Com-mission denial of a conditional-use permit was appealed.

Nancy Hendricksen of 1802 Fourth Ave. had applied for the permit to operate a pet grooming business out of her home. The commission voted to deny the application in its Aug. 14 meeting.

The decision was appealed and the council, acting as a board of adjustments, heard the appeal case. Hendrickson and Elizabeth Anne McCord, one of Hendrick's pet grooming clients, spoke in favor of granting the appeal. Mark and Sharon Shinn, Hendrick's neighbors, spoke against it, complaining that their property value may be decreased because of the business and that the dogs Henrickson cared for during the day created a nuisance.

Henrickson offered to drop the "doggie day care" portion of her business. The board has 30 days in which to make a decision.

In other business at the Sept. 18 meeting, the council:

Heard a presentation from Byron K. Huffman, manager of the Federal Aviation Administration Alaskan Region Airports Division. Huffman presented the Airport Improvement Program grants the Kenai Municipal Airport received this year.

In all, the airport received nearly $900,000. Over the last 10 years, the Kenai airport has received about $21.1 million, Huffman said. This year it received three grants. One is for an environmental assessment of a main runway extension project and safety area improvements for $351,000. The second is to install access control gates and a closed-circuit TV system for $328,000. The third is to buy snow removal equipment for $215,000.

Heard the annual audit report of the city's financial statement from Bill Coghill of Coghill, Mikunda, Cottrell and Co. Coghill said the statement was in good order.

He noted the city's sales tax revenue was up 8 percent over the year, interest revenues were down almost $970,000, and that most funds looked healthy.

Voted unanimously in favor of an ordinance amending the Kenai Municipal Code to prohibit the storage of slash for more than 120 days on property within certain areas of Kenai. Slash is not allowed for more than 120 days on property within urban residential, central commercial, general commercial, suburban residential 1, suburban residential 2 and town site historic zones or on lots smaller than 40,000-square feet in conservation, rural residential, suburban residential, light industrial, heavy industrial, recreation or education zones. Slash is defined as branches and other residue left after cutting timber. Tree trunks trimmed of roots and branches and cut firewood stored away from branches and other residue from timber cutting in not considered slash.

Voted unanimously to spend $3,159.95 for new desk tops at officer report writing stations at the Kenai Police Department. The money came from the state from drug asset forfeitures.

Voted unanimously to appropriate $15,000 from the general fund and $5,000 from the water and sewer fund to upgrade all city communications equipment and install new communications equipment in the Airport Oper-ations Facility. The FAA has approved funding for the majority of the project, but the city is paying for the portion the FAA will not cover. The equipment will be provided through a sole-source contract to Motorola. The sole-source option is being used for ease of maintenance and to ensure the equipment is compatible with existing equipment.

Passed a related resolution by unanimous consent approving a $264,769 contract to Motorola for the communications upgrade project.

Passed a resolution by unanimous consent adopting as alternative allocation method for the fiscal year 2003 shared fisheries business tax program and certifying that the allocation method fairly represents the distribution of significant effects of fisheries business activity in Cook Inlet.

Tabled a resolution until the council's Oct. 16 meeting that would direct the continuation of the paving project at Schooner Circle and designate what improvements are to be included in the project. The resolution was put on hold to give Schooner Circle residents time to work out an equitable way to split up their share of the cost of the project.

Passed a resolution by unanimous consent setting the public hearing date for Oct. 16 for the proposed paving project of Toyon Way.

Passed a resolution by unanimous consent awarding a five-year contract for vending machine concessions at the Kenai airport to Tyler Distributing Company Inc.

Passed a resolution by unanimous consent prioritizing capital projects in the community for submission to the state for the fiscal year 2004 funding under the capital project matching grant program.

Council member Joe Moore was absent from the meeting.