A proposal for a $10 drop-off fee for the City of Kenai’s personal use fishery will be added to the 2017 draft budget.
City Manager Rick Koch says data from the last few years shows that there is increased traffic from vehicles dropping people off from other parking locations to fish.
Koch: “Participants have found a way to not pay a fee for the services that the city provides such as restrooms, garbage pick-up, raking the beach. So the budget will propose a $10 a day fee where a vehicle can go in and out [multiple] times during a 24-hour period to drop folks off.”
He told city Councillors about the proposal at last weekend’s budget work session. Council Member Mike Boyle voiced his concerns that not allowing people to be dropped off for free would push both vehicle and foot traffic into neighborhoods surrounding the fishery.
Koch: “We’ve addressed that in the past, as fees were instituted we saw a higher degree of folks wanting to park on residential streets and we’ve prohibited parking in those residential neighborhoods. It’s something that we’ll have to continue to keep an eye on to see if that’s the case.”
The proposal will be included in the draft budget introduced at the May 18 Kenai City Council meeting. Public testimony on the budget will be taken at the council’s June 1 meeting.