Nine areas have been identified as areas of potential annexation by the City of Soldotna.
Newly elected Mayor Pete Sprague stressed that the areas highlighted on the map do not mean those properties will be annexed.
Mayor Sprague: “It will be a very lengthy process with a lot of public involvement.”
The memo accompanying the proposed areas map states that “great care was taken to exclude specific neighborhoods, agricultural lands, and other areas due to prior public comment and area demographics”.
During his campaign Sprague said he knew annexation would be a top issue if he were elected.
Mayor Sprague: “Personally I’d expressed interest in looking at three areas: Funny River, the area south toward Arc Lake, and then out along K-Beach, out along the vacant property or mostly vacant property out toward Gaswell. Some of the [proposed] areas are I guess more than I’d anticipated but right now the ball is in the administration’s court.”
The nine areas identified by administration and the contractor Northern Economics will now be examined to further define the economic cost/benefit impact and analysis for the city.
The results of that analysis are expected to be complete by April 2016, at which point the plans will be presented before city council and go through the public process.