The Kenai City Council is making good on a sand donation for Triumvirate Theatre.
Executive Director Joe Rizzo has been working to find a way to help save as much money as possible while having the ability to rebuild Triumvirate Theater. Back in February of 2021, the previous building was lost to a fire.
An ordinance (3219-2021) from 2021 allowed the city of Kenai to donate approximately two acres of land with an estimated value of $200,000, which would be the designated spot for the new building.
At a meeting held on April 3rd, 2024, the creative request was made to allow the city manager to request a community-purpose exemption to donate sand for the construction of the Triumvirate Theatre.
At that meeting, City Manager Terry Eubank did make it known that this would potentially be the first donation to require a community-purpose exemption. The city must justify and request an exemption through the FAA’s Anchorage office.
“The city was deeded a significant amount of property by the federal government. The FAA and I are charged with utilizing the assets of the airport for the betterment of the airport. Sometimes, what that means is even when, say, the general fund of the city would like to use a piece of airport property, airport equipment, or an asset, in this case sand. We have to pay the airport the fair market value of that asset, just as if, we were any other customer. So we have sold sand from the airport in the past,” Eubank explained.
The FAA grant assurances typically require that proceeds from the sale of the sand, like other airport resources, be used exclusively for the benefit of the airport. However, one allowable exception to this grant is the assurance of a community-purpose exemption.
The theater is estimating to need 5,000 cubic yards of sand. Sand typically costs $6.50 a yard. A purchase like this would be approximately $32,500. However, considering this would be a a donation for a non-profit organization, which would end up helping the overall costs for the reconstruction significantly.
After the Kenai Airport Commission discussed this matter at their May 9th meeting, they recommended the enactment of this ordinance.
Thus, when it came time to discuss the matter the the Kenai City Council meeting, the decision to enact this was fairly easy.
“I want to really thank you all for all of your great support over these last 3 and a half years of trying to put this Performing Arts Center. I’m like very pleased to tell you that the trees have been cleared and we are just waiting for construction permits and to come through and they are ready to roll. This sand donation, is actually, for a little organization like triumvirate theater is a kind of a big deal. It saves us, you know, in the neighborhood of $14, $15,000 dollars, which doesn’t seem like a lot on a project that’s the $3.5 million building. But for Triumvirate Theatre, $15,000 is the lobby furniture. So I’m grateful for all your support. I’m also thankful to Mr. Eubank for suggesting it in the first place and all of his great ideas that he’s like given me and the support of Landover and planning,” said Rizzo.
After a vote, all present members voted in favor of the sand donation for Triumvirate Theatre.