After some community frustrations, there are now two-hour parking spots available for 11 months out of the year at Kenai North Beach.
The 2-hour parking signs will be located at the end of Spruce, past the church, but near the main entrance to the beach. And once you hit Kenai Ave. and go down the mouth of the river, there are now 2-hour parking spots.
During the one month of the year that dip netting season is in session, the parking spots will only be reserved for dip netters, and different sign covers or different signs will display that information. But besides that, it’s free 2-hour parking for everyone else.
This issue came about when Mrs. Geller from the Senior Center expressed frustration when she felt as if she couldn’t park down there to enjoy the beach.
The issue is that cars are not allowed to park near the beach, since there are signs that say, “no parking,” mainly because it’s only permitted for dip netters during dip net season.
This is when Kenai City Council member Alex Douthit worked with city members to see what kinds of changes could be made.
“And what this now allows is we agreed in like a two-hour parking sign that allows people to go down there use that access road to the mouth of the river, you know, they want to go surf casting or just beach combing or whatever, during the non-dip netting season, and they can park in certain spots down there,” said Douthit.
One of the concerns was that city members didn’t want people to begin camping down by the beach, so the idea of a two-hour parking limit sign was the perfect solution. Douthit says that it gives people some enforcement, so they don’t stay there for days on end.
“So now they’ll be able to park the vehicle, and not have to walk from the main access point or the base of the hill. They can actually park down there and stay for a couple of hours and then load back up and take off and not feel like they’re gonna get a ticket,” said Douthit.
Now, thanks to community action, everyone can drive down to Kenai Beach and enjoy the river.
