Petitioners in Nikiski are moving forward with plans to create a local advisory planning commission, which they hope would give residents more of a voice in land management decisions in their north road community
Advisory planning commissions (APCs) are groups of appointed residents who make recommendations to the borough about planning and public land use. As it stands, the borough has seven APCs.
Last month, Nikiski residents and borough planners gathered to discuss the possibility of creating an APC in Nikiski. That petition was introduced to the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly at last night's meeting.
The borough’s planning commission has been involved in early discussions about getting an APC up and running in Nikiski. But the boundaries of a potential APC are still in flux.
Planning Commission Director Robert Ruffner says local advocates of the APC unanimously want to include the communities of Beluga and Tyonek, on the west side of Cook Inlet — a plan that would cover 3.5 million acres. If approved, that APC would be 10 times larger than any other APC in the borough. As it stands, much of the land included in the larger plan is part of the Lake Clark National Park and Preserve.
The planning commission proposed an alternative map that only encompasses about 300,000 acres and does not include Beluga or Tyonek. Still, it would be the largest APC in the borough.
Advocates of the larger plan, like Heidi Covey of Nikiski, say there’s a history of grouping the communities together.
She says the communities have been connected in statute since 1969, when the borough set up a fire service area and senior service area that connected them all.
“We have history from ’69 to current, showing that we work as a community whether we’re divided by a body of water or not," Covey said.
She also mentioned that Nikiski residents pay taxes that support services in those west-side communities.
Stacy Olivia, also of Nikiski, says the proposal has wide ranging support from residents of Nikiski.
“It fits the existing service areas, it’s supported by the community and petitioners, it was supported by unanimous support at the public meeting, and it was also supported last night in public testimony at the planning commission meeting," Oliva said.
But it’s unclear whether residents on the other side of the inlet would be as enthusiastic about the plan.
Ruffner says he has not heard from anyone in Tyonek or Beluga about whether or not they support the proposal. Planning Commissioner Dawson Slaughter pointed out that none of the nearly 50 petitioners for the APC are from those communities.
At that same meeting, Ruffner mentioned several downsides to including the west side communities in the APC, like the lack of information that Nikiski-based members would have about west-side planning decisions.
Planning Commission Chair Jeremy Brantley expressed his support for the smaller boundary plan, and says that service areas and APCs are not the same thing. He says the purpose of an APC is to provide insight on a community, and there is a great deal of difference in the communities on either side of Cook Inlet.
Ruffner did say that if the ordinance with the larger boundaries passes, residents on the west side would be informed about the creation of the commission.
Members of the assembly were generally supportive of the creation of a Nikiski APC at Tuesday’s meeting. The assembly will now have to decide which map to approve. The ordinance is set for a hearing on Sept. 20.
If the ordinance passes in either form, Borough Mayor Charlie Pierce will have 90 days to appoint seven residents to the new APC. Those individuals will then have to be confirmed by the assembly.
