Kenai City Council members got their first look Wednesday at a first-of-its-kind plan for the next two decades of parks and recreation in the city. The draft plan has been in the works for more than a year and envisions everything from redesigned trash cans to a new downtown event space.
City officials said the plan is important to guide the city’s vision for and investment in its parks facilities long-term.
Chris Mertl helped create the plan. He said it’s a product of input from residents, city officials and national standards. One of those standards says that a city should have a certain number of parks per resident. Mertl said there’s just one area where the city is falling short.
“Pickleball,” he said. “It’s a new trend. In all of our surveys we’ve done with all the communities, everybody is missing the pickleball. It is the largest growing sport right now in the United States. Don’t worry, it is a fairly low-cost facility to be added.”
The plan is more than a wishlist of city projects. It recommends policies, land management strategies and best practices for new and existing facilities.
Among the recommendations are major facility changes like expanding the soccer fields in north Kenai by moving both of the city’s sets of baseball fields and also the rugby pitch to that location. The area could become a community event space after moving the fields out of the softball greenstrip. And the current little league fields could be made into a new campground.
The city’s ice rink could be improved to facilitate year-round ice. All the city’s parks could be rezoned for better management. A uniform design for furnishings like trash cans and signage could be developed. And, Kenai could get pickleball courts.
For some facilities, the recommendation is for the city to reduce its footprint. Specifically, the plan calls for selling or otherwise disposing of Millennium Square, Erik Hansen Scout Park and the small park on 4th Avenue.
But all that costs money. The plan says the projects could be paid for through capital improvement plans, bond projects, grants and community funding. Mertl said that’s where a planning document comes in handy.
“This is your greatest funding tool,” he said. “Once you approve this, you can start tearing pages out and attaching it to grant applications. Without this document, you’re not going to get outside funding.”
Council members were generally enthusiastic about the plan.
Sovala Kisena, a member of the council, says the plan was the culmination of a long-term goal to support parks development in Kenai and can guide investment by the city and by users.
“Having gotten into this position through my continuous desire to see more parks and rec facilities and consolidation, I’m really excited to see this,” he said.
Kenai’s Parks and Recreation Commission signed off on the plan earlier this month. The council will vote on it at their next meeting on June 3. A full copy of the plan and the recording of Wednesday’s meeting can be found here.
