The Alaska Local Boundary Commission will hold a public hearing to discuss the City of Soldotna’s annexation petition today, August 4, at 2:00 p.m.
The City of Soldotna submitted a petition seeking to annex 2.61 square miles into the city to the Local Boundary Commission last October. The final petition, as authorized by the Soldotna City Council, included five of the nine study areas that had been evaluated throughout the process.
The conversation into annexation began back between 2005 and 2008. The mayor at the time vetoed a resolution that would have allowed the City to file the petition with the LBC. The reason behind the city pursuing annexation is the steady growth of Soldotna’s population.
Soldotna City Manager Stephanie Queen told KSRM earlier this year that the issue is, essentially, out of the city’s hands as the city’s application was accepted by the Local Boundary Commission: “At this point the state has very specific standards for what the process looks like. So, they are governing the process at this point according to the state statutes. We are not planning any more public meeting, the state will hold a public meeting later on.”
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, that public meeting will be held remotely via Zoom video conference. To join the Zoom meeting, click this link. Participants can also join via telephone by calling (669) 900-9128. The meeting ID that will be used in both instances is 836 3476 0887. Use password LBC1.