Areas on and around the Kenai Municipal Airport were changed Wednesday night to Airport Light Industrial, better classifying the land-use codes for uses of Airport lands.
City Planner Matt Kelley said first the Kenai City Council had to create the new Airport Light Industrial zone at last night’s meeting, before being able to change the current zoning on the airport…
Kelley: “Conservation zone, rural residential zone, suburban residential zone, light industrial zone, to airport light industrial zone. So the intent of that was to set up to protect the viability of the airport. And it’s more specific to airport uses.”
Then an ordinance immediately following the creation of that zone definition added 51 Airport-owned parcels under that umbrella.
Kelley: “Those all allowed different land uses, the conservation zone allowed different uses than the light industrial zone. The 2003 Comprehensive Plan actually discussed rezoning parcels within the Airport Reserve Boundary to a more airport specific zone, that allowed for airport specific uses, as well as other appropriate uses that would serve the airport commercial uses, and industrial uses and stuff like that.”
Included in appropriate uses were things such as an expansion of the city’s cemetery, which is continuously growing, as well as specific building guidelines.
Kelley says residents and general users of Kenai most likely won’t notice these changes in code, the zoning modification simply clarifies the land uses that are allowed on and around the airport.
