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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2004-10-14 KRSMA Board PacketI( NAI 131V Special Alanagement Area "Working togefher...9or the river" NOTE: Hate ana Time cha~Dd~~OO G>3~ o OO LaG°~D Kenai River Special Management Area Advisory Board *~* Meeting Agendax** Thursday, October 14, 2004 5:30 p.m. Kenai River Center I. CALL TO ORDER A. Roll Call B. Approval of 9/23/04 minutes C. Agenda Changes and Approval II. PUBLIC COMMENT ` III. NEW BUSINESS ~" ~- r >Mm t ~ r ~ t b ~ i { °.tl_lrs t i ~ j k' °..f r A. Interim Elections -board officers B. Proposed Mixing Zone Regulations - Discussion; Nancy Sonafrank, ADEC C. Board Vacancies D. Board Reorganization -bylaw approval E. Goal Setting for Board in 2004-OS Bote~;itial topics: o additional lands addition in the upper Kenai River o Hydrocarbon/outboard motor issues IV. OLD BUSINESS A. Kenai River Center Update, Suzanne Fisler - Cooper Lake Hydro - FERC Relicensing Update -Soldotna Bridge Project Update B. Kenai River Working Group Update, Chris Degernes V, PUBLIC COMMENT VL A.DJOURiNMENT A. Board Comments B. Date/Agenda of Next Meeting Kenai Area Office, Box 1247, Soldotna, AK 99669, Soldotna 2625581 S I~! Kenai Peninsula Borough, Box 850, Soldotna, AK 99669, Soldotna 262-4441 ~ Alaska Division of Parks and outtloor Recreation, ~epartmenf of Natural Resources, In cooparatlon with the Kenai Paninsula Borough. Kenai River Special Management Area Advisory Board Meeting Minutes Thursday, September 2S, 2004 7:00 p.m. Kenai River Center I. CALF TO ORDER A. Roil Call Members Present: Roland Maw, Rick Wood, Paul Shadura, Kent Patrick- Riiey for Ionne Slemons, Jeff King, Keith Kornelius for Linda Snow, Robin West, Bill Shuster, aim Golden, Tom Vania, Ted Wellman, Dick Hahn, Chris Degemes. Members Absent: Ken Lancaster, Dave Westerman, Joe Connors, and Pete Sprague. B. Approval of 5/20/04 minutes The minutes were approved as written. C. Agenda Changes and Approval Robin West noted the Board Bylaws require elections in September. With Ken's absence Robin suggested doing those in the October meeting. Otherwise the agenda was not changed. IL PUBLIC COMME~~T None III. NEW BUSINESS A. Board Reorganizarion-Bylaw changes, etc. Robin suggested a committee shored be fonued to reorganize the board and to review the Bylaws. Ted made the motion to appoint a Bylaws committee. Dick seconded the motion. Discussion included changing the meeting day to The second Thursday of the month. Another suggestion was changing the meeting times to 5:30pm. This would work better for those folks traveling from Anchorage or Seward. Bill suggested changing the bylaws to have a meeting in Cooper Landing once a year. The motion was voted on to establish a Bylaws Committee and was unanimously agreed upon. Robin asked for volunteers to be on the committee. Ted, Chris, Dick and Paul will be on the committee. The board members not present will be advised of this committee and may also participate. Ciuis will email the current $ylaws to all board members for review and comment. B. ADEC Ntixing Zone Regalation Changes (brief summary only), Kent Patrick-Riley, ADEC When Kent learned a few days ago that the board wanted to address this issue, he contacted Nancy Sonafranlc, head of the DEC standards program who is coordinating this effort. Kent pointed out Nancy's contact info in the handouts provided. DEC conducted public hearings in August in Anchorage, Fairbanks and Juneau. None were held oh the Kenai Peninsula. Kent said there are 3 parts to the Mixing Zone Regulations: • Clarification and simplification of the regulations. • To address problems with the mixing zones. There are places where the regulations are not relevant. • Deal with nonsensical applications. The bans have caused a big increase in cost with no benefit. Kent referred the board to Nancy Sonafrank if they had detailed questions. Robin asked if the board had questions. Several board members raised their hands. There was much discussion about the revised mixnig zone regulation. Some of the key points were: • Robin: It is obvious this group has a strong interest in this 1SSLle. • Ted: Would like to see the regulations as written for revision before commenting. He would like to have a detailed presentation to this board in the October meeting. • Paul: CIRCAC took this up, made comments and forwarded them to ADEC. Paul presented it on Tuesday night to the Fish and Game Advisory Committee and they approved it. He also noted commercial fishermen are troubled with the concept of mitigation, not knowing what that means. Too many unknowns, too much, too quick Meetings were held in the middle of busy season. • Jim: Suggested meeting the 2°d week in October for a presentation by DEC and to discuss this issue, to give the board time to comment before the Nov. 1 deadline. Kenai River Special Management Area Advisory Board iVleeting Minutes September 23, 2004 Page 2 of 8 • Dick: How many other states allow mixing zones in spawning bounds? For anybody to say you could kill out a whole nm of fish and not know for 5-7 years is an insult to our intelligence. The first priority for the Kenai River should be habitat. However, Dick feels DEC needs to hear from all the groups that could be impacted by this regulation, and not just this board. • Jeff: This makes a mockery of other projects, i.e. hydrocarbon and boat wake studies, which to the public would seem miniscule in comparison. Ted made the motion to draft a letter immediately to DEC asking them to schedule a formal public hearing as well as a presentation to this board. Seconded by Boland. Discussion was held and then the vote passed unanimously- C. Kenai River Working Group -Chris llegernes The KRWG has met twice since August. Next meeting is Friday September 24 from 3 to 8pm at Soldotna City Hall. Thus far it has been primarily organizational. On Friday the group will start working on proposing potential solutions. One concen7 Chris mentioned is there has not been a lot ofpublic participation. The public has a couple of opportunities dtuzng the meetnigs to provide comments. The ultimate goal is to have this wrapped up by spring. Jim: The Attorney General is represented there and he is there do provide guidance on what can or cannot be done. Jim believes there will be some issues that will be challenged. Ted: Given the contentious nature of the subject matter, everyone is trying to be honest. Jeff asked if the scope still remains how to legally limit the guides? Chris said the Commissioner sent a letter to the KRWG members asldng them to develop a fair and legal way to limit commercial operators on The Kenai River. He also asked the group to consider other issues that may be important including recreation use conflicts, boat wakes, hydrocarbons, rental boats, etc., as other issues are intertwined with the commercial use eoncems. But the focus should still be on limiting commercial operators. Ted is concerned that there are some folks in the group saying we don't have a problem- Ted feels when we complete a process that is fair on limiting guides it will likely be interwoven with some public use and access reshictions as well. Kenai River Special Management Area Advisory Board Meeting Ntinutes September 23, 2004 Page 3 of 8 Tom said he is dismayed at what the Working Group has been asked to do. This board went through many discussions on what the Working Group should work on and he thought it was only to discuss the limitations of guides. He feels they are now. doing what this board has already done. By adding the other issues to this Working Group hefeels it is taking away from the main issue. A lot of the discussion has nothing to do with limiting the guides. Chris said the Commissioner asked the WGto look at other things because he knows that there are many interconnected issues with the concerns about commercial use, like public use, motors and hydrocarbons, and boat wakes. However, the Commissioner agrees that the focus should still be limiting guides. D. Potential Kenai River Property Acquisition, Chris Degernes Chris provided an aerial photo of the Corr parcel as well as a map showing this parcel of land. This land is potentially available as an addition to KRSMA. It is the Tommy Corr Homestead property, located downstream from Kenai Peninsula College. There is nearly 1 mile of riverfront. Brad lVleikeljohn from the Corser<~ation Fund has been working with the Corr's for a number of months. Brad wants to make sure there is interest from the community. This parcel is the only intact homestead remaining on the Kenai River, and is a beautifiil piece of river fi-ont property. If acquired, it would adjoin some EVOS lands downstream. Chris said she talked with the Commissioner about this in general to find out the Level of support the Administration might be able to provide. The Commissioner said if it has wide spread support from the community and the Borough Assembly, and could be ptuchased using fiords ,1,. >ri Ill(' 1.,, C: it 't 1.7 L.,. + 1 ~.,. t1. ,., ('_,..,e,-.....' o tiler triari star"(` filriua yr u v vu, iic i~i~ i~ evAru w preSel'iteG w ui~. wv~I live o office. The property is appraised at $2.2 million and the Corr's are willing to accept $2 million. Brad has already raised $1 million ofprivate funding for this, and is now seeking support from this board. Robin asked if Brad is willing to raise all the fiords. Chris said that's uncertain, but knew that he is mooting with potential partners. Cluis said the benefits to the community would be habitat protection of nearly a mile of Kenai River front lands, and possibly public access. There is a portion behind Sunken Island that would work well for public access. It could potentially relieve pressure the college is feeling to provide access on their high banks. Dick said he lives directly across from this parcel He said above Sunken Island and for about 100ft below the island would be an excellent area for public access. He would rather see this then to have it subdivided with lots of cabins and homes built on the river. Kenai River Special Management Acea Advisory Board Meeting Minutes September 23, 2004 Page 4 of 8 Ted agreed the last thing we need is another huge subdivision on the river. Pau] supports this acquisition. Roland is opposed. He feels there isno clear purpose for this acquisition. Robin asked whether the board supported moving ahead with this project and all supported except for Raland Maw. E. ~Jpdafe on 2004 Field Season, Bill ~erkhahn Bill presented a review of what he called the "ongoing 2004 field" season. There are still many folks active on the river even though the summer itself is over. Once again Parks depended largely on volunteers, with 20 volunteers working in the river units. Bill estimated the volunteers put in over 15,000 hours of donated labor. Some of thevolunteers were vrorking 15-hour days. They are tasked with a variety of thingssuch as fee enforcement, education, and cleaning and maintenance of facilities. Permanent staff includes 3 Park Rangers and a Natural Resource Technician. It was a safe season for all of the staff with no injuries or lost time due to accidents. • The "Kids Don't Float" life jacket loaner program saved another life this year at the Cooper Landing Boat Launch. A raft overturned in August, and a couple kids were saved because of the loaner PFD's they used. • Parks conducted a Guide orientation for new guides this year. • The Kenai River rental boat inspection went well. The rental operators must implement a state sponsored, boat operator's pre-departure checklist. All renters of boats must read and sign prior to renting a boaC. Bill said he did check a few rental operators and asked for their pre-departure checklist and they had them. • Parks has continued with programs on boating safety in the schools with help on funding from the Office of Boating Safety. The staff worked with F&G on the annual salmon carnival, and with Central Peninsula General Hospital Safe Kids program, and between these programs and the ones at the schools, conducted over 90 boating safety programs on the Kenai Peninsula last winter and spring. • Bill said this July was very hectic with lots of people and lots of violations. The Park Rangers issued 448 citations, which is 100 more than in 2003. In addition to those citations there were hundreds of verbal warnings. 0 163 citations for PFD's and boat registration 0 150 fishing violations 0 14 over horsepower violations o remainder were general park violations such as non payment of fees and parking violations Kenai 12iver Special Management Area Advisory Board Meeting Minutes September 23, 2004 Page 5 of 8 0 44 citations issued to 32 individual guides. One guide had 7 citations; another guide had 4 fishing violations; three guides were issued over-horse power violation citations; two guides for boating safety; and 10 guides for various other permit stipulation violations. There were many boating accidents or incidents, with capsized boats and overturned canoes. A tnick went through the ice on Skilak Lake in March which resulted in a fatality. In June a drift boat capsized in the upper river with a fatality. Canoe hit the bridge abutment at Mile 53. Raft overturned at Schooner Bend. Kayak through Naptowne Rapids where the victim barely got out of the water alive. Another incident was a drift boat operator who threw out the anchor and the anchor got caught on a rock or stump and it pulled the boat Linder. During mid summer, a pickup truck rolled into the river at river mile 34 which also resulted in a fatality. There were 3 fatalities total. Bill concluded his presentation asking for help with staffing levels especially during the busy summer months. Finding a funding source like a river stamps coLdd help. Jim Golden said KRSI is working on fimding upwards of 20k for extra enforcement efforts during the 3 peak weeks in July. R. ADP&G Guide Licensing Program, Tom Vania, AbFG Tom said the Department is having meetings throughout the state with guides, charter boat operators and business owners to inform them about the new guide license program and to solicit cormnents from them on the application prcceSS. T lie fresh"w at%r icg bvoii Vv'iii be ne`v`v' acid the Sa1tW'ater iC _ book :i'.11 b continue. There are about 7 to 8 regs that would need just a small word change fi-om "guide registration" to "sport guide license". There are about 4 to 5 regulations to add regarding reporting requirements. Kenai River guides are already doing most of the requirements. The fees will be $50 for guide only; $100 for business owner; and $100 for business owner and guide. IV. OLD F3L'SINGSS A. Kenai River Center Update, Suzanne Fisler • Suzanne handed out three summaries of guide and rental boat statistics. Suzanne pointed out the decrease in the number of rental boat operators. In 2005 there will be guide orientations for new guides only. o Suzanne would like to discuss at the next meeting fee recommendations for the 2005 season. There is a proposal in the regs for increasing the fees for Kenai River Guides and other Commercial Kenai River Special Management Area Advisory Board Meeting Minutes September 23, 2004 Page 6 of 8 Operators and any increase should be reviewed by the board before the annual letters go out to the guides iu January. • End of season reports are being returned in large members now. • Suzanne would like the commercial operator committee to convene. She would like to have them involved in changing The stipulations and to address the drug testing issue, as there were several guides who lost their Coast Guard licenses. • Some of the other projects at the Kenai River Center include a visit to the new property owners of Riverquest. Some of the stntictures have been pulled out and the KRC staff have been looking at that. Some of the new property owners are buying the lots and splitting these lots with their friends because there is nothing that says you can't have 2 houses on the lot. • Gary Galbraith has asked DNR Habitat staff to take another look at his rock vane proposal He may try to restart project. She will keep the board informed on that. • Soldotila bridge was given a conditional permit but the plans and specs for the final permit have not been received yet. No contractor yet. • 50/50 project applications are coming in. She is hoping that more bulkheads and jetties will be removed with this program finding. • DNR Habitat has been interviewing for a new fish biologist for the Kenai River Center. B. Cooper Lake Flydro - EERC Relicensing Update Last year Chugach Electric hired a consultant with experience in hydro power licensing who interviewed the affected parties. Subsequently, a great many studies were identified and completed on Cooper Creek. Presently they are determining which members of the agencies will sit at the negotiating tables to determine what Chugach Electric can do in the firture and what mitigation will be needed. Suzanne said she anticipates Parks and the Div of Mining, Land and Water would be involved. She will keep the Board informed as this process continues to evolve. V. PUBLIC COMMENT None VI. ADJOURNMENT A. Board Comments Robin asked the board to get the word out onboard vacancies. He also asked those members whose terms are expiring to think about whether they want to be reappointed. Kenai River Special Management Area Advisory Board Meeting Minutes September 23, 2004 Page 7 of S Robin also informed the board that the Renfro Cabin (between Skilak and Kings) was proposed to be moved to Frying Pan Island. Objections have been heard so presently no plan exists to move it. If anyone is interested in this, call Debbie Corbett at 786-3399. Roland: Regarding the Corr property he suggested consideration of buying a strip. He doesn't see the need to buy all the property. Rick: Bids for the Soldotna Bridge are due September 28`". B. Date/Agenda of Next Meeting Thursday, October 14« at 5:30 pm, at the Kenai River Center. NOTE DATE AND TIME CHANGE. Kenai River Special Management Area Advisory Board Meeting Minutes September 23, 2004 Page 8 of 8