Borough residents opposed to Soldotna annexation are wasting no time getting organized.
Concerned landowners will meet tonight at the Cook Inlet Aquaculture Association building on K-Beach Road to discuss the issue.
Soldotna Mayor Nels Anderson said there’s been a strong reaction to the idea of annexation, since a similar proposal in 2008 left many with a bitter taste in their mouths…
Mayor Anderson: “There has been no discussion really with City Council on anything other than the process, and there is no City Council member that I know of that has discussed either pro or con on the issue. All of us are interested in having people buy into what happens to them.”
Anderson suggested directly approaching residents in communities outside city limits to see if a majority in a specific area would be in favor of being annexed.
Mayor Anderson: “The process is just a question and there’s some people who legitimately came and said, ‘we don’t even want you to begin the process.’ But I think we need to. If you look at Kenai, for example, their boundaries come down to within about 3 or 4 miles of Soldotna. They’ve got 10 miles towards Soldotna almost that their boundaries encounter and those people are not held to the same standards as the internal people in the city of Kenai and neither would we do the same thing if we incorporated more rural areas. There are some benefits and if we can’t convince people of their benefits, in my opinion, it’s not going to happen.”
Tonight’s meeting is open to the public and starts at the Aquaculture building at 6:30pm.