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Kenai commission tables Aspen Creek follow-up after neighbors report traffic, noise and missing landscaping
Summary
The commission left the Aspen Creek conditional-use item open for follow-up after staff reported receiving video evidence that non-emergency vehicles used a back entrance marked 'emergency vehicles only'; neighbors at the meeting raised safety, traffic, lighting and landscaping concerns and asked the city to intervene.
The Kenai Planning and Zoning Commission on March 12 kept the Aspen Creek conditional-use matter active for follow-up after Planning Director Beutner reported receiving three short video clips from a neighbor that appear to show non-emergency vehicles using a back entrance to the Aspen Creek development despite a sign reading “emergency vehicles only.”
Beutner said the clips were brief — roughly 10 to 15 seconds each — and that staff had added them to the project file. He said staff planned to visit the site to confirm the sign's location and to contact the owner or local manager to determine whether the vehicles were contractors, staff, or residents. Beutner said he planned to follow up and schedule a formal meeting with the owner.
Commissioners and the chair agreed to keep the item on the commission's unfinished-business list for the next meeting so staff can pursue the follow-up. The chair said a public-noticed hearing would be required for any formal discussion that changes the record or results in action; in the meantime the commission will monitor developments and allow additional public comment at the next meeting.
Several neighbors used the additional public-comment period to describe ongoing impacts they attribute to the Aspen Creek development. Edie Hansaker, who said she lives adjacent to the project, said the development had not installed a promised row of blue spruce trees along her property line, that a new internal road is behind her fence and that backing alarms and lighting disturb her home. She asked that the development not use neighborhood streets for access.
Arliss Mascunis (also recorded in the meeting as Arlys Eskinis) said traffic had increased on nearby subdivision streets because visitors and service vehicles were using side entrances and the wrong streets to approach the Aspen Creek site. Mascunis said she had asked the city about additional signage and speed-limit measures and was told all city streets post a 25 mph limit; she expressed safety concerns for children walking to nearby school stops.
Another commenter disputed the developer’s earlier justification for internal connections between buildings, saying Aspen Creek retained commercial-grade kitchens and that some operational claims previously made to the commission were incorrect. Several speakers said the increased vehicle activity and noise could reduce neighborhood livability.
No formal enforcement action or vote was taken at the March 12 meeting. The commission directed staff to investigate the videos and the sign placement, to contact the site owner or manager, and to return an update at a future meeting; the commission noted that a publicly noticed item would be required for any formal regulatory action.
