An aerial assessment document provided to Kenai City Council members shows a parcel of land near Outside Way and the Kenai Bible Church in Old Town Kenai at the toe of the bluff. The parcel is being purchased as part of a bluff stabilization project. (Map via City of Kenai)

An aerial assessment document provided to Kenai City Council members shows a parcel of land near Outside Way and the Kenai Bible Church in Old Town Kenai at the toe of the bluff. The parcel is being purchased as part of a bluff stabilization project. (Map via City of Kenai)

Kenai to buy land parcel for bluff project

The project aims to stabilize about 5,000 feet of bluff on the north shore of the Kenai River

The City of Kenai will buy a half-acre piece of land as part of the Kenai Bluff Stabilization Project following authorization by city council members during their Nov. 16 meeting.

That bluff stabilization project, in the works for decades, aims to stabilize about 5,000 feet of bluff on the north shore of the Kenai River. The parcel is located near Outside Way and the Kenai Bible Church in Old Town Kenai at the toe of the bluff, according to an aerial assessment document provided to city council members.

Kenai City Manager Paul Ostrander wrote in a March 31 memo to council members that the parcel, about 0.6 acres in size, has an assessed value of $200. However, the city will purchase the parcel for $1,200 in addition to $1,200 in closing costs following negotiations.

ADVERTISEMENT
0 seconds of 0 secondsVolume 0%
Press shift question mark to access a list of keyboard shortcuts
00:00
00:00
00:00
 

“Negotiations have spanned almost the entire year, and the matter is complicated because Julian Errea, the owner according to Borough parcel records is deceased along with his wife,” Ostrander wrote.

The same memo says that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers identified that parcel as being needed for the bluff stabilization project. As part of that project, a berm will be constructed at the toe of the bluff, which is currently eroding at a rate of 3 feet per year.

The city estimates the total cost of the bluff stabilization project to be about $35 million, of which the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has agreed to cover 65%. Using that cost estimate, the city’s local match amounts to about $12.25 million, to be covered by the $6.5 million from the state, other grants and the city’s general fund. The city hopes to put the project out to bid in April.

More information about the city’s bluff stabilization project can be found on the city’s Public Works website at kenai.city/publicworks.

Reach reporter Ashlyn O’Hara at ashlyn.ohara@peninsulaclarion.com.

More in News

Syverine Bentz, coastal training program coordinator for the Kachemak Bay Research Reserve, displays a board of ideas during a Local Solutions meeting focused on salmon at the Cook Inletkeeper Community Action Studio in Soldotna, Alaska, on Monday, Feb. 10, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
In search of salmon solutions

Cook Inletkeeper hosts meeting to develop community project to help salmon.

Lisa Gabriel, left, watches as beach seine nets are pulled from the waters of Cook Inlet at a test site for the gear near Kenai, Alaska, on Tuesday, July 30, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
CFEC to consider seines for east side setnet fishery

The change is contingent on the State Board of Fisheries approving the gear during their March meeting.

A map of 2025 construction projects scheduled for the Kenai Peninsula. (Provided by Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities)
Department of Transportation announces construction plans

Most of the projects include work to various major highways.

Seward City Hall is seen under cloudy skies in Seward, Alaska, on Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Seward adds full-time staffer for recently restarted teen rec room

Seward’s Parks and Recreation Department reclaimed responsibility for teen programming at the start of this year.

Gavin Ley stands with the “Go-Shopping Kart” he designed and built in his career and technical education courses at Nikiski Middle/High School in Nikiski, Alaska, on Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Nikiski students learn professional skills through technical education

Career and technical education gives students opportunity to learn skills, express themselves creatively, work cooperatively and make decisions.

Nikiski teachers, students and parents applaud Nikiski Middle/High Principal Mike Crain as he’s recognized as the Alaska Association of Secondary School Principals 2025 Region III Principal of the Year by the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District’s Board of Education during their meeting in Soldotna, Alaska, on Monday, Feb. 3, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Nikiski principal named Region III principal of the year

Crain has served as Nikiski’s principal for three years.

An 86 pound Kenai River king salmon is measured in Soldotna, Alaska, on June 29, 1995. (M. Scott Moon/Peninsula Clarion File)
Kenai River king salmon fishing closed entirely for 3rd year

Kenai River king salmon were designated a stock of management concern in 2023.

The Kenai Peninsula College Main Entrance on Aug. 18, 2022, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
University of Alaska Board of Regents to meet in Soldotna

The last time the board met on the Kenai Peninsula was April 2012.

Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Board of Education member Penny Vadla and student representative Emerson Kapp speak to the joint Alaska House and Senate education committees in Juneau, Alaska, on Monday, Feb. 10, 2025. (Screenshot courtesy Gavel Alaska/KTOO)
KPBSD among dozens of districts to deliver in-person testimony to Alaska Legislature

Districts spotlighted programs already lost over years of stagnant funding that hasn’t met inflationary pressure.

Most Read