Kenai Parks staff to rewrite Leif Hansen memorial policy; planting list to be managed by parks director

Kenai Parks and Recreation staff told the Parks and Recreation Commission on April 3 that they will revise the Leif Hansen Memorial Park policy to modernize language, reorganize sections and remove a council-managed planting list so the Parks director can keep planting guidance current.

The proposed rewrite—intended to be brought back as a draft at the commission's May meeting and then forwarded to the Kenai City Council for final approval—would reorganize the 2001 policy into clearer sections on administration, permanent memorials, memorial plantings, maintenance and prohibited uses. Staff said the existing policy is hard to navigate and has not been updated since 02/2001.

Deputy Clerk (unnamed) noted the original policy is dated and that staff has drafted a recommended new structure modeled on the commission’s 2022 cemetery policy. “The original policy without the notes is on page 7 of your packet and it's just not organized in a way that's very easy to find information,” the deputy clerk said. The draft in the packet…