Commission asks City Council to reserve $250,000 for a comprehensive‑plan update and amends meeting calendar

The Kenai Planning and Zoning Commission voted Oct. 22 to ask City Council to place a $250,000 placeholder in the FY2027–2031 Capital Improvement Plan to fund an update of the Imagine Kenai 2030 comprehensive plan, and it amended the late‑year meeting calendar to cancel two holiday‑period meetings and schedule a work session on tent camping.

Planning staff told the commission that comprehensive‑plan update costs vary widely depending on scope: smaller projects that rely heavily on city‑led public engagement can be in the ~$200,000 range, while extensive updates that include code rewrites can reach $650,000. "I was gonna recommend requesting $250,000 as a starting point to talk about the capital improvement plan," the Planning Director said, emphasizing that the final number would be set by council. Staff noted updating the plan can improve eligibility for federal and state grants and help prioritize infrastructure such as water, sewer and transportation projects.

Commissioner Petty moved to request inclusion of the comprehensive plan project for FY2027 in the CIP and Commissioner Reveal seconded; a roll call produced six yes votes and the commission forwarded the request to council. The commission also voted to cancel the Nov. 26 and Dec. 24 meetings and to schedule a work session at 6:00 p.m. on Nov. 12 (with the caveat that work sessions would be canceled if no business warranted them). Commissioners flagged that a current comprehensive plan is often a prerequisite for certain grants and that an updated plan would help coordinate parks, airport, transportation and utility priorities.

The commission's actions are recommendations to City Council (for CIP inclusion) and are administrative schedule changes; any formal funding decisions or code rewrites will follow council budgeting and subsequent staff work sessions.