The Soldotna City Council postponed making any decisions on moving forward with annexation until its May 9 meeting.
After a two-hour work session on Wednesday evening and over half an hour of impassioned public comments on the issue, Vice Mayor Linda Murphy proposed to postpone the resolution, which would direct the administration to prepare a draft petition for the potential annexation of areas adjacent to the city limits.
The postponement was approved, and at the May 9 meeting the resolution will be readdressed with amendments that may or may not be adopted by the council.
“I am very much opposed to annexing any residential neighborhoods without a vote of the people in those neighborhoods. I am very much interested in annexing commercial properties because there will actually be a return on our investment on those areas,” Murphy said.
Throughout the night’s discussion, council discussed the feasibility of and reaction to each of the nine areas that the city is proposing for annexation.
“The reason for the postponement is that the council member has specific areas that they would like to see modified,” Council member Lisa Parker said.
Based off of the discussion, modifications could include entirely removing certain study areas or editing the boundaries to include or exclude certain parts of the area.
The resolution, if it’s approved, would cue the start of the official annexation process, City Manager Stephanie Queen told the council during the work session.
“This will signify your intent of wanting us to go ahead and start, telling us to move forward,” Queen said. “The resolution does not make any permanent or final decisions in any way.”
Reach Kat Sorensen at ksorensen@peninsulaclarion.com.
