Planning commission approves two utility-easement vacations to simplify lot development

At the Nov. 17 meeting the Kenai Peninsula Borough Planning Commission approved two separate petitions to vacate utility easements that staff said would unduly limit future use and development of the parcels.

For KPP file 2025-128 staff said the proposed replat of Lots 1A and 1B in Owen Subdivision No. 296 would remove a utility easement that otherwise would cut through the middle of the newly configured lots; alternate utility easements exist along all four sides, and staff reported no utility companies objected. The commission moved, adopted staff recommendations and passed the motion on roll call.

Later the commission considered PC Resolution 2025-29, a petition to vacate a 5-by-70-foot portion of a 10-foot utility easement adjacent to Skeeter Street for a newly constructed house and water line that encroached. Staff explained the subdivision plat notes prohibit permanent structures within easements; however, staff also reported that utility agencies returned either "no objection" or "no comment." Jason Young, representing Edge Surveys and the landowner, said the new house was accidentally built in the same location as the old home and that the petition "is just to clean up the easement." The commission adopted the resolution incorporating the staff report and conditions; the motion passed on roll call.

Staff noted both vacations include conditions and that the plat committee had previously granted conditional approval for at least one of the re-plats. No utilities submitted objections in the record and no members of the public offered testimony in opposition. The approvals allow the property owners greater developable area while retaining alternate easements to accommodate future utilities.