The Soldotna city council held a work session before its regular meeting this week about the city’s five year capital plan. Like many municipalities, funding capital projects is becoming challenging as state dollars dry up. That can mean shifting some priorities or finding other funding mechanisms, like grants or bonds.
A major project at Soldotna Creek Park is being made possible by a state grant from the Department of Transportation through the alternative transportation program. It will include paving the gravel trails around the park, putting in a paved pedestrian path from the park down to Homestead Lane and a sidewalk along Homestead to connect everything to the foot bridge over Soldotna Creek. City manager Stephanie Queen credits staff for not only identifying grant opportunities, but being able to propose projects that can use the funds. In the case of Soldotna Creek Park, that’s more than half a million dollars and demands only a $20,000 match from the city.
“We do not have any people who have any extra time (for grants) and when you get 50 or 70 emails a day and one comes in that says grant opportunity, read these 30 pages and see if you’ve got a project. In the case of the ATAP grant, John Czarnezki took the lead on that with our contacts at DOT and quickly put together a project to meet those needs. In the case of the appropriation federally, Kyle Kornelis dug through the documents, put together a project that met those specific grant criteria and what a joy to hear that both those projects were awarded to the city.”
The other big project she mentioned is a $7 million grant from the federal transportation department for runway rehabilitation at the Soldotna airport. That grant requires no local match and will regrade the runway and add lighting and pavement, saving the city significant costs for upkeep. A timeline for the Soldotna Creek project will be established after the city meets with DOT officials in the coming weeks.