At the packed Soldotna City Council meeting, public testimony was heard from over 20 people on two main topics: Birch Ridge Golf Course and Skyview Pool.
A majority of the attendees showed to support Birch Ridge owner Patrick Cowan in his proposal for the City of Soldotna to purchase the golf course property and contract out the management.
Alaskan Golf Association Executive Director Jeff Barnhart drove down from Anchorage yesterday afternoon to support Cowan.
Barnhart: “The AGA is the representative for the United States Golf Association in the state and we’re tasked and missioned with promoting and developing and maintaining the golf industry. That’s junior golf, that’s senior golf, that’s competitions, that’s handicaps and in these trying times, the last thing that we want to see is the elimination of a facility.”
Barnhart used examples of other municipalities like Kenai, Anchorage, Palmer, and Sitka who have similar arrangements.
Although the topic of keeping the Skyview Pool open was not on the agenda, multiple attendees testified as to why it should remain open.
City Manager Mark Dixson said that with the uncertainty of state funds the city needs to properly plan how to allocate resources.
Dixson: “There are a lot of important items in our community that are important for quality of life, obviously the golf course is one of them, Skyview pool is another one of them, but at some point there’s going to be a breaking point where the City of Soldotna is not going to be able to help out.”