The Kenai City Council debated whether to change the name of Cook Inlet View Drive to Cook Inlet Drive, which better describes a residential street on Wednesday night’s meeting.
The resolution (2024-17) had to go through a couple of steps to change the street’s name before it could officially be brought back before the council. They had to receive a recommendation from the Planning and Zoning Commission and consult with the Kenai Peninsula Borough.
According to a memo from Council Member Deborah Sounart, sponsoring the resolution, complaints about the existing title “Cook Inlet View Drive” have increased over the years.
The word ‘view’ suggests the road has a scenic view, which has resulted in visitors, tourists, motorhomes, and tour buses/vans driving through the residential neighborhood. However, residents of the Kenai area know that it’s a dead-end street that leads to the edge of the bluff.
“The other concern is that it is a very residential neighborhood and there are children in the streets riding bikes and playing ball. And with all this extra summer traffic, it just creates a dangerous scenario. So after talking to the five families, I brought it to administration, and we got the ball rolling,” said Sounart.
Public Works Director Scott Curtain says he has communicated with the Department of Transportation, and they were okay with the City of Kenai making the sign changes. However, the DOT did mention that if they were to change the sign themselves personally, it would take them a bit of time. In response, Curtain said he would be “happy” to change the sign himself so long as he was permitted by the council.
“In my opinion, and I’d be happy to do this with our staff, I don’t think it’s a large sum of money. I think we could do all this here for a few hundred dollars, if that’s possible, less than that. My recommendation would be to allow our streets department staff to go ahead and do that, and I’ll just take care of it, and I’d likely have it done next week.”
After a unanimous vote, the resolution was adopted, meaning that Cook Inlet View Drive will now be known as Cook Inlet Drive.