Kenai

Winged words

Winged words

Parents and children catching flights at the Kenai Municipal Airport now have the chance to make waiting time into story time. On Friday afternoon the… Continue reading

Winged words
This Monday, Oct. 24, 2016 photo shows the Kenai City Dock in Kenai, Alaska. The city is seeking a new concessionaire to operate the dock’s equipment after seafood processor Copper River Seafoods did not show interest in operating the facility for the 2018 season. (Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion, file)

Copper River to stop operating Kenai dock

Seafood processor Copper River Seafoods won’t be operating the city of Kenai’s dock this year. The company, which has operated the dock’s heavy equipment and… Continue reading

This Monday, Oct. 24, 2016 photo shows the Kenai City Dock in Kenai, Alaska. The city is seeking a new concessionaire to operate the dock’s equipment after seafood processor Copper River Seafoods did not show interest in operating the facility for the 2018 season. (Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion, file)

Kenai Council limits appeals of city decisions

At their Wednesday meeting the Kenai City Council voted to change the rules that had allowed any Kenai resident to challenge any decision by city… Continue reading

Alycia Backstrom (left) and Steven Taylor pose with infant Bailey Backstrom outside their rooms in Kenai’s new Clear Pointe six-plex — the city’s first income-restricted rental housing, constructed by the Homer-based not-for-profit Kenai Housing Initiative — on Wednesday, April 4, 2018 in Kenai, Alaska. After a roughly two-month search for a place to live, Taylor and Backstrom became Clear Pointe’s first tennants after moving in Monday. (Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion)

Kenai’s first income-restricted housing now open

The central Kenai Peninsula’s small low-income rental housing market grew six units larger with the recent completion of Clear Pointe, the first low-income housing building… Continue reading

Alycia Backstrom (left) and Steven Taylor pose with infant Bailey Backstrom outside their rooms in Kenai’s new Clear Pointe six-plex — the city’s first income-restricted rental housing, constructed by the Homer-based not-for-profit Kenai Housing Initiative — on Wednesday, April 4, 2018 in Kenai, Alaska. After a roughly two-month search for a place to live, Taylor and Backstrom became Clear Pointe’s first tennants after moving in Monday. (Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion)

Road construction to tie up central peninsula this summer

The snow is melting, the aspens are budding and the construction contractors are gearing up to work on the Kenai Peninsula’s roads. This summer will… Continue reading

Kenai to debate who can appeal city decisions

Kenai residents who disagree with decisions by city administrators or the Kenai Planning and Zoning Commission can appeal them to the seven members of the… Continue reading

A U.S. Air Force F-22 “Raptor” fighter jet takes off from the Kenai Municipal Airport on Monday, March 19, 2018 in Kenai. Weather conditions stopped the fighters from landing at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, their home field. Four of the F-22s belong to the 90th Fighter Squadron and four to the 525th Fighter Squadron, which were on separate training flights before landing in Kenai, said Major Stephen Montgomery, a pilot with the 90th. The fighters took off for Anchorage Monday afternoon. (Photo by Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion)

Jet set: Eight fighter planes land in Kenai

As a U.S. Air Force F-22 “Raptor” fighter jet takes off from the Kenai Municipal Airport, others await fueling on Monday, March 19, 2018 in… Continue reading

A U.S. Air Force F-22 “Raptor” fighter jet takes off from the Kenai Municipal Airport on Monday, March 19, 2018 in Kenai. Weather conditions stopped the fighters from landing at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, their home field. Four of the F-22s belong to the 90th Fighter Squadron and four to the 525th Fighter Squadron, which were on separate training flights before landing in Kenai, said Major Stephen Montgomery, a pilot with the 90th. The fighters took off for Anchorage Monday afternoon. (Photo by Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion)
Photo by Dan Balmer/Peninsula Clarion An ATV trail and utility boxes line the side of Beaver Loop Road near the Dolchok Lane intersection. The road that connects Bridge Access Road and the Kenai Spur Highway is slated for improvments along with a pedestrian pathway. Local residents shared feedback at a open house Thursday for the project which is still in the preliminary design process.

Beaver Loop residents pack road improvement meeting

Kenai resident Tom Potton would like to see safer conditions on Beaver Loop Road for his children’s sake. The 3.75-mile stretch of road that connects… Continue reading

Photo by Dan Balmer/Peninsula Clarion An ATV trail and utility boxes line the side of Beaver Loop Road near the Dolchok Lane intersection. The road that connects Bridge Access Road and the Kenai Spur Highway is slated for improvments along with a pedestrian pathway. Local residents shared feedback at a open house Thursday for the project which is still in the preliminary design process.
Photo by Rashah McChesney/Peninsula Clarion Aron Endries, of Endries Construction, guides a motor grader in front of an overturned crane on Beaver Loop Road Wednesday July 30, 2014 in Soldotna, Alaska. The crane overturned as employees were attempting to move segment of an old culvert being replaced along the road.

Crane overturned at construction site for Beaver Loop Road culvert project

Employees of Soldotna-based Endries Company overturned a crane Wednesday as it attempted to remove a portion of a culvert from a project site on Beaver… Continue reading

Photo by Rashah McChesney/Peninsula Clarion Aron Endries, of Endries Construction, guides a motor grader in front of an overturned crane on Beaver Loop Road Wednesday July 30, 2014 in Soldotna, Alaska. The crane overturned as employees were attempting to move segment of an old culvert being replaced along the road.
Photo by Elizabeth Earl/ Peninsula Clarion The Nikiski Fire Department, Kenai Police and Kenai Fire departments are responding to a wreck involving multiple vehicles at the intersection of the Kenai Spur Highway and Beaver Loop Road. One of the vehicles appears to have been flipped upside down.

Collision involving multiple vehicles blocks traffic on Kenai Spur Highway

Update 12:30 p.m.:   Five people have been transported to Central Peninsula Hospital in Soldotna after an accident left two cars flipped on the Kenai… Continue reading

Photo by Elizabeth Earl/ Peninsula Clarion The Nikiski Fire Department, Kenai Police and Kenai Fire departments are responding to a wreck involving multiple vehicles at the intersection of the Kenai Spur Highway and Beaver Loop Road. One of the vehicles appears to have been flipped upside down.

1 dead in fatal Kenai Spur wreck

One man is dead after a fatal car accident on the Kenai Spur Highway on Monday evening. Kenai resident Michael Thomas Grisham, 50, was driving… Continue reading

Beaver Loop rennovations may begin in summer 2018

The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities is moving forward with plans to widen and resurface Kenai’s Beaver Loop Road. The plans would also… Continue reading

As burial space decreases in Kenai’s cemetery — pictured here on March 17, 2017 — the Kenai City Council is taking steps on a long-planned expansion. On Wednesday council members voted unanomously to fund engineering plans for converting the vacant lot adjacent to the existing cemetery across Floatplane Road into new cemetery grounds. Construction of the expansion may begin this year. (Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion)

Kenai funds cemetery expansion plans

As burial space shrinks in the Kenai cemetery on Floatplane Road, the city government is taking steps toward the long-planned construction of new cemetery space… Continue reading

As burial space decreases in Kenai’s cemetery — pictured here on March 17, 2017 — the Kenai City Council is taking steps on a long-planned expansion. On Wednesday council members voted unanomously to fund engineering plans for converting the vacant lot adjacent to the existing cemetery across Floatplane Road into new cemetery grounds. Construction of the expansion may begin this year. (Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion)

LNG project to use Kenai city water

If the Alaska Gasline Development Corporation builds its planned liquefaction plant and export terminal in Nikiski, its water will come from the city of Kenai,… Continue reading

A salmon leaps above the surface of the Kenai River as it makes its way upstream near Centennial Park on Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2017 in Soldotna, Alaska. (Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion)

Kenai plans second silver salmon derby

Kenai is taking another swing at hosting a silver salmon derby this fall. The city of Kenai and the Kenai Chamber of Commerce have obtained… Continue reading

A salmon leaps above the surface of the Kenai River as it makes its way upstream near Centennial Park on Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2017 in Soldotna, Alaska. (Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion)

Kenai offers new options to 10 businesses on city land

In another effort to reform land practices that critics say have hampered business development in Kenai, the Kenai City Council gave owners of 10 Kenai… Continue reading

Kenai seeking economic diversity with land reforms

Speaking on Wednesday at the Kenai Peninsula Economic Development District’s Industry Outlook Forum, Christine Cunningham, Assistant to the Kenai City Manager, outlined the reasons Kenai’s… Continue reading

An eagle perches in the nest overseen by the city of Kenai’s streaming Eagle Cam on Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2018 in Kenai, Alaska. The camera — located on the property of a Kenai resident who remains anonymous to protect the eagles from harassment — streamed online for the first time last July, drawing about 2 million viewer-minutes. On Wednesday, the Kenai city council voted unanimously to spend $1,600 on an upgraded camera for the site. Though the feed is only public in the summer, it still streams into Kenai City Hall, where Kenai information technology manager Dan Castimore took this recent capture. (Courtesy City of Kenai).

Kenai Eagle Cam to upgrade hardware, advertising plan

For their second summer of live-streaming the view from atop a local eagle’s nest, Kenai’s city government and the Kenai Chamber of Commerce plan to… Continue reading

An eagle perches in the nest overseen by the city of Kenai’s streaming Eagle Cam on Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2018 in Kenai, Alaska. The camera — located on the property of a Kenai resident who remains anonymous to protect the eagles from harassment — streamed online for the first time last July, drawing about 2 million viewer-minutes. On Wednesday, the Kenai city council voted unanimously to spend $1,600 on an upgraded camera for the site. Though the feed is only public in the summer, it still streams into Kenai City Hall, where Kenai information technology manager Dan Castimore took this recent capture. (Courtesy City of Kenai).
Courtesy of Kenai Peninsula Borough/Modified by Peninsula Clarion This map from the Kenai Peninsula Borough parcel viewer shows the proposed boundary of the Airport Reserve - land legally dedicated to the Kenai Municipal Airport - shaded in blue. The present Airport Reserve also includes the nine lots shaded in green, most of which belong to the city of Kenai but could be sold into private hands if the Airport Reserve is moved. The Kenai Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously endorsed the move at their Wednesday meeting, and the Kenai City Council will hold a hearing and vote on it in the future.

Kenai airport reserve boundary may move

Editor's note: This story has been changed to include the date of the Kenai City Council's hearing and vote on the boundary move.  The Kenai… Continue reading

Courtesy of Kenai Peninsula Borough/Modified by Peninsula Clarion This map from the Kenai Peninsula Borough parcel viewer shows the proposed boundary of the Airport Reserve - land legally dedicated to the Kenai Municipal Airport - shaded in blue. The present Airport Reserve also includes the nine lots shaded in green, most of which belong to the city of Kenai but could be sold into private hands if the Airport Reserve is moved. The Kenai Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously endorsed the move at their Wednesday meeting, and the Kenai City Council will hold a hearing and vote on it in the future.
In this Dec. 23, 2015 photo, Dr. Michael Merrick talks to a patient about her addiction as she comes in to get her prescription of Suboxone, a medicine used to treat opioid addictions, in Merrick’s office in Kenai, Alaska. (Clarion file photo)

Longtime Kenai doctor sells practice to addiction medicine provider

A longtime Kenai doctor has sold his practice to a company operating clinics focused on medically assisted opioid treatment. Ideal Option, a Washington-based health care… Continue reading

In this Dec. 23, 2015 photo, Dr. Michael Merrick talks to a patient about her addiction as she comes in to get her prescription of Suboxone, a medicine used to treat opioid addictions, in Merrick’s office in Kenai, Alaska. (Clarion file photo)