Ben Boettger

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Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion An array of photovoltaic solar panels generate electricity from the winter sunlight at the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge headquarters on Wednesday, Jan. 4 in Soldotna.

Kenai Wildlife Refuge beginning to track solar energy

When the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge opened its new visitors center in May 2015, one new feature was a pair of 60-square meter solar arrays.… Continue reading

Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion An array of photovoltaic solar panels generate electricity from the winter sunlight at the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge headquarters on Wednesday, Jan. 4 in Soldotna.

PRL permitted for airstrip use, lodging, office space, restaurant

On Wednesday Kenai Planning and Zoning Commission members unanimously gave transportation and contracting company PRL Logistics six conditional permits to use a grass airstrip by… Continue reading

Kenai bluff erosion project inches forward

In the race between geology and bureaucracy that has constituted Kenai’s bluff erosion mitigation attempts, geology continues to win. The 18-year-old project to halt the… Continue reading

The tide and wind waves eat at the bottom of Kenai Bluff during high tide Sunday evening below Toyon Way in Kenai.

Kenai bluff erosion cost-share agreement in progress

A cost-share agreement between Kenai and the Army Corps of Engineers for a study relating to Kenai’s bluff erosion is close to realization. According to… Continue reading

The tide and wind waves eat at the bottom of Kenai Bluff during high tide Sunday evening below Toyon Way in Kenai.
Kenai makes small steps on bluff erosion project

Kenai makes small steps on bluff erosion project

Which moves faster: the geological process of bluff erosion, or the bureaucratic process of project funding? According to a 2007 Army Corps of Engineers report,… Continue reading

Kenai makes small steps on bluff erosion project

Army Corps of Engineers and Kenai agree to share cost of bluff erosion study

After two days of meetings in Kenai City Hall between Kenai administrators and regional and national officials from the Army Corps of Engineers, the two… Continue reading

Eroding at roughly 3 feet per year, the Kenai River bluffs encroach on an outbuilding of Paul Karaffa’s property on Friday, Feb. 10, 2017 in Old Town Kenai, Alaska. About half of Karaffa’s bluff-top land, on which he’s lived since 1944, has eroded away. The eroded portion is among 22 mostly underwater properties that the city of Kenai is seeking to buy to carry out a bluff-erosion prevention project, tentatively scheduled to start construction in 2019. (Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion)

Kenai seeks land for bluff erosion project

Kenai is seeking land while the Army Corps of Engineers has set a new timeline and reached a new preferred project design for bluff erosion… Continue reading

Eroding at roughly 3 feet per year, the Kenai River bluffs encroach on an outbuilding of Paul Karaffa’s property on Friday, Feb. 10, 2017 in Old Town Kenai, Alaska. About half of Karaffa’s bluff-top land, on which he’s lived since 1944, has eroded away. The eroded portion is among 22 mostly underwater properties that the city of Kenai is seeking to buy to carry out a bluff-erosion prevention project, tentatively scheduled to start construction in 2019. (Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion)
Flanked by his past portraits, River City Academy graduate Morgan Shepherd speaks to his eleven peers in River City’s class of 2017 during the school’s graduation ceremony on Wednesday, May 24, 2017 at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex in Soldotna, Alaska. All the graduates gave speeches at the ceremony, introduced by principal Dawn Edwards-Smith, who compared each one to a literary or cinematic hero.

River City grads reminisce

Each of the 10 River City Academy graduates present in the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex for the school’s Wednesday graduation ceremony gave a short speech… Continue reading

Flanked by his past portraits, River City Academy graduate Morgan Shepherd speaks to his eleven peers in River City’s class of 2017 during the school’s graduation ceremony on Wednesday, May 24, 2017 at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex in Soldotna, Alaska. All the graduates gave speeches at the ceremony, introduced by principal Dawn Edwards-Smith, who compared each one to a literary or cinematic hero.

Fund balance cap, health care fund, cemetery expansion in Kenai budget

New features in the $15 million budget proposal that Kenai City Council members will be debating and voting on in the near future include a… Continue reading

New ownership brings fresh approach to movies, bowling in Kenai

Editor's note: This story has been changed to correct a reference to the Kenai Peninsula Borough Economic Development District's 2017 second-quarter consumer spending report.  … Continue reading

Kenai Bowling Alley not sold yet

Kenai Bowling Alley not sold yet

The sale of Kenai’s bowling alley to Anchorage-based real estate consultant Dean You, which the Kenai City Council approved Jan. 18, was not finished by… Continue reading

Kenai Bowling Alley not sold yet
Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion A broken pin sits on a workbench in the backroom of the Kenai bowling on Saturday, Nov. 14 in Kenai. The bowling alley is now owned by the city of Kenai, which will soon begin seeking management for it.

Kenai to search for new bowling alley management

Editor's note: This story has been changed to remove an inacurrate statement of Charlotte Yamada's cost estimate to renovate the Kenai bowling alley. The Kenai… Continue reading

Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion A broken pin sits on a workbench in the backroom of the Kenai bowling on Saturday, Nov. 14 in Kenai. The bowling alley is now owned by the city of Kenai, which will soon begin seeking management for it.

Kenai sells bowling alley

After 11 months of receiving offers and holding negotiations, the Kenai City Council has sold the former AlaskaLanes Bowling Alley, a closed business located on… Continue reading

Kenai bowling alley sold to Dean You

Bowling balls may soon be rumbling again down the lanes of Kenai’s bowling alley, bought this week by a group of business people that includes… Continue reading

The four-story Dragseth Mansion, which the Kenai municipal government sold on Wednesday to the transportation and contraction company PRL Logistics for $825,000, sits on Kenai’s south beach Friday, May 19, 2017 in Kenai. A concrete barrier blocks the southern end of a city-owned airstrip that PRL is also seeking to buy from Kenai, requiring a permit from the Kenai Planning and Zoning Commission that will be discussed May 24. The airstrip parallels the beach alongside the Kenai River flats, valuable habitat for migratory birds, prompting concern from birders and bird advocacy groups. (Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion)

Kenai sells mansion, will consider airstrip sale

The four-story, 7,556-square foot mansion on Kenai’s south beach belongs to the transportation and contracting company PRL Logistics, after the Kenai City Council unanimously sold… Continue reading

The four-story Dragseth Mansion, which the Kenai municipal government sold on Wednesday to the transportation and contraction company PRL Logistics for $825,000, sits on Kenai’s south beach Friday, May 19, 2017 in Kenai. A concrete barrier blocks the southern end of a city-owned airstrip that PRL is also seeking to buy from Kenai, requiring a permit from the Kenai Planning and Zoning Commission that will be discussed May 24. The airstrip parallels the beach alongside the Kenai River flats, valuable habitat for migratory birds, prompting concern from birders and bird advocacy groups. (Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion)
This screen capture from the city of Kenai’s live-feeding camera above a local eagle nest shows an eagle parent roosting with two eggs on Thursday, May 18, 2017 in Kenai, Alaska. Presently the eagle camera is streaming to Kenai City Hall, where administrators hope to raise the city’s profile by putting a live eagle feed online sometime in the coming weeks. (Screen capture courtesy of Jamie Heinz/City of Kenai)

Kenai eagle nest to stream live online

Update, Friday May 19, 11:00 a.m — The city of Kenai's eagle cam is now online and streaming at http://www.kenai.city/eaglecam​  When Kenai’s eagle camera begins… Continue reading

This screen capture from the city of Kenai’s live-feeding camera above a local eagle nest shows an eagle parent roosting with two eggs on Thursday, May 18, 2017 in Kenai, Alaska. Presently the eagle camera is streaming to Kenai City Hall, where administrators hope to raise the city’s profile by putting a live eagle feed online sometime in the coming weeks. (Screen capture courtesy of Jamie Heinz/City of Kenai)
William Konig of Kenai’s Parks and Recreation department tills the Field of Flowers, preparing it to be planted with wildflowers, on Wednesday, May 17 in Kenai. The Field of Flowers is part of a 16 acre city-owned strip known as Lawton Acres, which sits between the Kenai Spur Highway and a neighborhood to the south where residents have been fighting commercial development of the land since the late 1980s. On Monday, many spoke at a Kenai City Council work session about possible resolutions to the dispute.

Lawton Acres options include ballot proposition, land trade, purchase

Prompted by a standing-room only crowd in the Kenai City Council Chambers on Monday night, Kenai council members discussed options for concluding a 30-year dispute… Continue reading

William Konig of Kenai’s Parks and Recreation department tills the Field of Flowers, preparing it to be planted with wildflowers, on Wednesday, May 17 in Kenai. The Field of Flowers is part of a 16 acre city-owned strip known as Lawton Acres, which sits between the Kenai Spur Highway and a neighborhood to the south where residents have been fighting commercial development of the land since the late 1980s. On Monday, many spoke at a Kenai City Council work session about possible resolutions to the dispute.

Kenai residents surprised by cul-de-sac paving

Leslei Spalding was among six Kenai property-owners who recently received bills from the city for $6,274.58 — part of the cost of a paving project… Continue reading

This April 21 photo shows the cul-de-sac at the end of Kenai's VIP Drive, which the city paved in 2014. Kenai administrators billed cul-de-sac residents - whom they said had requested the paving by petition - for a share of the cost, creating a dispute with residents who denied requesting the paving. The dispute was resolved Wednesday with an agreement that reduced the cost to residents.

Mistaken pavement bill resolved

When property-owners on Kenai’s VIP Drive cul-de-sac were billed by the city for part of the cost of paving their road, they contested the bill,… Continue reading

This April 21 photo shows the cul-de-sac at the end of Kenai's VIP Drive, which the city paved in 2014. Kenai administrators billed cul-de-sac residents - whom they said had requested the paving by petition - for a share of the cost, creating a dispute with residents who denied requesting the paving. The dispute was resolved Wednesday with an agreement that reduced the cost to residents.

Kenai manager anticipates difficult future budgeting

Declining sales taxes, anticipated reductions in state revenue sharing and pension funding, the rearrangement of a state meal program, and a probable rise in the… Continue reading