Are you building? Adding on?

Permitting & Agency Information Day Today
Wednesday MAY 15th 11 – 3 PM
Seward Community Library
Corner of 6th & Adams

Agency representatives will be available to assist with your permit application, summer project and provide information on:

PLANNING
PERMITTING
UPDATED BUILDING CODES
FLOODPLAIN MANAGEMENT
UPDATED FLOOD INSURANCE RATE MAPS
NATIONAL FLOOD INSURANCE PROGRAM
FISHERIES & WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT
HABITAT AND WETLANDS

Drop in, ask questions and get answers!

“In Alaska, water resources are important to all of us!”

By Heidi Zemach for SCN

The Bear Creek Volunteer Fire Department is hosting a Ground Breaking on Saturday May 11, at 1:30 for the new fire-station multi-use building, with an open house and hot-dog roast to follow. March Creek is the Contractor. The contract was formally approved by the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly at its Tuesday, May 7^th meeting. Six contractors bid on the project, but March Creek was the lowest bidder at $4,501,123.00, and is a contractor well known for the quality of its work, said BCFVD Fire Chief Mark Beals.  For the past couple of weeks, workers have been clearing the site adjacent to the existing fire station of trees and snow, and generally preparing for the site to be ready for them to begin construction this month.

The Kenai Peninsula Borough Capital Project will oversee the project. The project is to be substantially completed by early 2014, with additional ground work to be finished in the spring of next year.

Bear Creek Volunteer Fire Department with their newest truck. Photo from BCVFD website

“The Bear Creek Fire Service Area Board of Directors and the Bear Creek Volunteers Fire and EMS, Inc. are looking forward to the new facility which will improve facilities for training, and a layout and design that will improve response and safety at the new station,” Beals said. “We wish to thank the community,
borough and our legislative representatives for their support of this project.”

Come out an celebrate with the volunteer fire department and Bear Creek community this important new project that has taken so long to bring to fruition.

5-7-2013 Borough Assembly Meeting Report

By Sue McClure

The afternoon of our first meeting in May began with an hour of instruction on use of our new iPads.  The assembly members now will be receiving our meeting packets electronically rather than by mail, in a continuing effort to eliminate paper.  These will also facilitate information transfer from the Clerk and other borough sources.  During the finance committee meeting, we heard a 20-minute presentation from Craig Chapman, Finance Director, on the fiscal year 2014 budget.  The ordinance containing the budget was introduced later in the meeting, as Ordinance 2013-19, with a public hearing scheduled for 6/4.  During the lands committee meeting, we heard an abbreviated presentation of the 2013 Seward Bear Creek Flood Service Area Hazard Mitigation Plan, which was presented in full at the board meeting of the SBCFSA the previous evening in Seward.  This is an extensive study of all hazards in the service area and potential loss assessments, and potential mitigation priorities.  It was presented as Ordinance 2013-16, and was withdrawn by request from the Mayor, pending further hearings, to eventually be placed in the KPB All Hazard Mitigation Plan.

At the regular meeting at 6 PM we heard the quarterly report from Central Peninsula Hospital, and a report from the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge director on the elodea infestation of Daniels and Stormy Lakes.  This is a weed that can overwhelm lakes, and there is a request for funding assistance to fight its spread.

In the Mayor’s report, the contract for the Bear Creek Community Multi-Use Facility (and fire station) was awarded to Marsh Creek, LLC from Anchorage.  There were also 3^rd quarter reports from the non-departmentals and senior grant recipients.

We unanimously adopted two ordinances appropriating funds, one for CES for software, and the other a grant for CES to purchase portable radios.

Several resolutions were passed on the consent agenda, including Resolution 2013-043 determining $43.5 million to be awarded to the school district for FY 2014.  We once again postponed (to our 6/4 meeting) Resolution 2013-037, which would establish a fiscal note for borough actions.  We amended a resolution to waive the 2013 deadline for senior citizen and disabled veteran exemption applications, by deleting names that did not satisfy the criteria for waivers.  After much testimony and discussion, we approved, by a 6-3 vote, Resolution 2013-047 that classifies 240 acres in the Kenai area as Resource Management.

Several ordinances were moved to public hearing on 6/4, including one which accepts and appropriates $1.3 million in funds from the State for reimbursement of costs from our September floods.  Ordinance 2013-15 was also moved to public hearing, which will raise the E911 surcharge from $1.50 to $1.80 per month.

Our next meeting is on 5/21.  Ordinances up for public hearing at that time include Ordinance 2012-19-54 which appropriates $286,000 for improvement to school facilities, Ordinance 2012-19-52 authorizing expansion of the imaging department of Central Peninsula Hospital and appropriation $3 million from their plant replacement and expansion fund for this purpose, and Ordinance 2013-14 which would reduce the rate of interest charged sellers for delinquent sales taxes and would make other adjustments.

As always I can be reached for questions or comments at 224-6784 or smcclure@borough.kenai.ak.us.  The borough’s website is www.borough.kenai.ak.us, and the Seward Annex office at the SeaView Plaza is available for borough assistance.

By Heidi Zemach for SCN

Dan Lowry’s home on Old Nash Road caught fire Wednesday afternoon, and about a third of it either burned or sustained considerable fire, smoke, and water damage following the efforts by the Bear Creek Volunteer Fire Department, and Seward Volunteer Fire Department’s to put it out.

Dan Lowry was working in his auto repair shop on land in front of the house when he said he smelled something burning, and then discovered that the house was on fire. A passerby actually called the fire in, said BCVFD Fire Chief Mark Beals. When the fire department arrived with a truck and crews about 11 minutes later, the well-built two-story house was fully engulfed in flames, and a third to a half of the home’s interior was involved, Beals said. Lowry lives there with his fiancé. No one was inside the building, and Lowry had managed to salvage some of their possessions. Unfortunately, the cat was missing.

Thursday, he and his friends were busy filling up plastic bags full of damaged things from the house, and hauling them off to the dump. Lowry said he was managing alright, and didn’t want to talk to the press or have them  take photos for the paper.

When the Bear Creek fire department truck arrived on scene at 4:11 p.m. Wednesday, the fire was so hot that they decided to use an exterior monitor with a flow of about 6,000 gallons, plus two hand lines that flowed just under 3,000 gallons of Class A foam. They battled the blaze in a combination attack, both from the inside, and from the outside.  Bear Creek responded with six units and 13 personnel. Seward had a couple of trucks and about a dozen people, Beals estimated.

Bear Creek Fire Trucks on scene. BCVFD photo credit.

The exact cause has not yet been determined but the fire appears to have started in a bedroom, then the fire progressed from there. “It’s still standing and the roof’s intact but it’ll take quite a bit of work, Beals said. “It’ll need some major rebuilding” But due to the way it was built, with good, solid lumber construction and sheetrock, its overall structure is intact, as is the roof, so the home may have spared worse damage.

Some  friends and neighbors stopped by with offers of help, and a place to stay, Beals said.

Welcome Crystal Symphony, Seward’s first cruise ship of the season!  Most of the passengers were in Seward today on a port of call and will continue on to Southeast Alaska and then to Vancouver, B.C.  Several new passengers joined the ship in Seward for this voyage to Vancouver.  This is the only time a Crystal Cruises ship will come to Seward in 2013.  Built in 1995 and refurbished in 2009, the Crystal Symphony can carry up to 952 passengers and 566 crew.  More information is at their website.

Click here for the 2013 cruise ship schedule.

Crystal Symphony in port at Seward, AK
Photo by: M Tougas

Nichole Feemsters’ mural is going up on the South side of the Library Museum building.  The install is being conducted by Harmon Construction.  The vibrant colors of the mural match the colors that change with the light on the siding of the building.

Nichole’s design is centered on the idea of stories.  We are beginning to see a family, sitting by a fire sharing a story.

Stop by to see the mural come to life, who is listening in while the ‘story’ is being told?

Photo’s by: M Tougas

Harmon Construction starts the install.

Panels joined and starting to tell a ‘story’.

The mural panels painted during the paint weekend got their last top coating this Saturday.  The ‘Top Coat Gang’ has now placed a top coating three different times to get all of the panels ready for their install.  Nichole Feemster would like to thank all the volunteers that have come out to help with the mural that she has spent months working on.

Watch for the mural to start it’s install phase on the South side of the Library Museum building this next week.  The museum exhibit opening will be coming in May and the mural will be in place!

Photos are taken in the Hertz of Seward garage, where the ‘Top Coat Gang’ has been hard at work…can you recognize anyone?

The ‘Top Coat Gang’
Photo by: M Tougas

“Missed a spot here!”
Photo by: M Tougas

Carefully following a line
Photo by: M Tougas

Nichole Feemster thanks the wonderful community folks that signed up and stopped in to help with the panels this last weekend.  18 panels, size 4×8, were given their first, second and sometimes third coats of paint during the paint weekend at the cruise ship terminal.  Thank you to the Alaska Railroad and the City of Seward for the space to set up and paint, and the Library Museum volunteers for helping to move, set up and help with the weekend details.  Nichole was on site each day to oversee the painting and directing the helping hands.  She would like to thank the volunteer painters, some came more than one day, and a *special Thank You to Mary Daniels for soups and baked goods, Yum!

The panels are getting the artists final touch and will then have a top coating applied before they are ready to go up on the white walls of the South side of the Library Museum building.  Our helping hands:

Come help paint the Library Museum mural panels today and Sunday at the cruise ship terminal! Snacks and goodies provided by some wonderful volunteers ( thank you Mary Daniels and Mary Huss).  Meet Nichole Feemster, the local artist, and help with the completion of the mural panels that will be placed on the South side of the Library Museum.

All supplies are provided, just wear comfortable clothes that can handle a little paint and comfy shoes.  Adults and teens welcome.  We are offering community service time to all Seward High students that come by complete a time slot.  Painting will take place at the cruise ship terminal.  Thank you to the Alaska Railroad and the City of Seward for their help with the location to do this community event!

Special thanks to the folks already signed up, public can come and drop in to give a hand anytime, we will be there.  A good way to ignore the new snow outside.  Or, just stop by to see the work in progress. She has her color drawings out for viewing of the entire project.  We’ll have the coffee on!

This is the largest mural to be worked on in Seward and Nichole Feemster has been busy.  She needs some extra hands to get the final panels ready.

Saturday, April 6 ~ 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.  (drop ins welcome)

Sunday,  April 7 ~ 11 a.m. – 3 p.m.- need some hands for clean up and break down @ 2pm!!

Cruise Ship Terminal

Come help paint the Library Museum mural panels April 5, 6 & 7.  Meet Nichole Feemster, the local artist, and help with the completion of the mural panels that will be placed on the South side of the Library Museum.

All supplies are provided, just wear comfortable clothes that can handle a little paint and comfy shoes.  Adults and teens welcome.  We are offering community service time to all Seward High students that sign up and complete a time slot.  Painting will take place at the cruise ship terminal.  Thank you to the Alaska Railroad and the City of Seward for their help with the location to do this community event!

Sign up in person at the Library Museum or call 907-224-3646 and give your name, email and a phone contact.

Friday, April 5 ~  5 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Saturday, April 6 ~ 10 a.m.-2 p.m. or 2 p.m. – 6 p.m.***

Sunday,  April 7 ~ 11 a.m. – 3 p.m.***

***Need folks for these slots!!

 The Library Museum Volunteers

This week only, the scheduling for high school classes will be revised. (See the chart below)  Students are asked to be on time for testing.  This is mandatory attendance for all 9th and 10th grade students for the Standards Base Assessment (SBA) and the High School Graduation Qualifying Exam (HSGQE).  Upper class students, grades 11 & 12, will follow the afternoon schedule.  For more information call the Seward high school office at 907-224-3351.

Seward High blog site: http://sewardhighschool.blogs.kpbsd.k12.ak.us/wpmu/

Seward Town Hall Meeting

Saturday, March 23^rd

4 pm – 6 pm

Representative Mike Chenault

Speaker of the House

Please join in the discussion at a

town hall meeting with your

local state representative on

Saturday, March 23^rd, from 4 pm to 6 pm

at the Seward Library Museum located at 239 6^th Ave.

If you have questions call the Kenai office at 283-7223.

Come help paint the Library Museum mural panels April 5, 6 & 7.  Meet Nicole Feemster, the local artist, and help with the completion of the mural panels that will be placed on the South side of the Library Museum.

All supplies are provided, just wear comfortable clothes that can handle a little paint and comfy shoes.  Adults and teens welcome.  We are offering community service time to all Seward High students that sign up and complete a time slot.  Painting will take place at the cruise ship terminal.  Thank you to the Alaska Railroad and the City of Seward for their help with the location to do this community event!

Sign up in person at the Library Museum or call 907-224-3646 and give your name, email and a phone contact.

Friday, April 5 ~  5 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Saturday, April 6 ~ 10 a.m.-2 p.m. or 2 p.m. – 6 p.m.

Sunday,  April 7 ~ 11 a.m. – 3 p.m.

**We need individuals that can help with sanding and painting primer on the panels to get them ready for design painting, leave your name and contact information, Nicole will call and schedule you to give a hand!

The Library Museum Volunteers

By Heidi Zemach for SCN

Bear Creek Volunteer Fire Department, Moose Pass Volunteer Fire Department, Alaska State Troopers and Seward Volunteer Ambulance Corps personnel helped rescue an injured snow machine rider along the Primrose Trail at Lost Lake late Tuesday afternoon, Feb 5th. The 911 dispatch alerted State troopers who then alerted them at about 5:30 p.m., saying help was needed for a man with back and leg injuries.
“We responded with our rescue trailer and 12 people from Bear Creek Fire Department. Moose Pass (Fire Department) responded with six personnel,” said BCVFD Training Captain Jim Wiles. At the Primrose Trailhead we sent up a ‘hasty team,’ two riders on two sleds with a medical bag, who took off right after the pre-brief on the location, injuries, number of people.” They took their snow machine up the trail with radio communications. The injured man was located about nine miles in.
“The trail was in really bad condition. It was really icy, really bumpy, plus it was dark. It got dark really fast,” Wiles said. It’s dangerous terrain up there, requiring advanced riding skills, he added.

Meanwhile, the second rescue group, which had three people, prepared a second rescue sled, with additional medical gear, one capable of bringing the patient out. The equipment included an Evacu-U-Split, capable of immobilizing the entire body.

The victim, Thawatchai Labnonsang, 38, of Soldotna, did not appear to have received life-threatening injuries, but did have injuries sustained when he and his snow machine went over an embankment, a drop estimated to be about 40 feet, said Alaska State Trooper’s spokeswoman Megan Peters. He was carried out, stabilized and brought out on the sled to the Primrose Trail head, where an SVAC ambulance transported him to the closest hospital. He was later Medivaced to Anchorage. The two other riders with him were uninjured.
It was the second backcountry rescue for BCVFD this winter, Wiles said. Last year there were none.

On December 29th 2012, Bear Creek and Moose Pass rescued another injured snow machiner who had crashed into a tree along the Primrose Trail, said Peters. After Kevin Cabana, 19 was injured, his friend had to drive several miles to get cell reception and call for assistence. A Life-Med flight was requested, but was unable to respond due to weather conditions. But Helo-1, the powerful state trooper helicopter based in Anchorage, did manage to make it on scene, and fly him out to a hospital. Last night’s weather conditions, such as its low ceiling in that location, did not make a helicopter rescue possible, Peters said.
The state troopers are much appreciative of the well-trained local volunteer help they can receive for such back-country searches and rescues, Peters said. But Cpt. Wiles expects that the number of calls for help will increase. In addition to the dangers of the terrain in that area, today snow-machiners don’t just sit down and drive along the trail much anymore, he said. They like to stand as they ride and do tricks like speeding up, and jumping their much faster, lighter performance machines 60-100 feet off steep ridges. As the technology advances, horsepower increases, and machine suspensions allow them to do more, riders take greater risks, he said.

Bear Creek Fire Department personnel pose recently for a photo. They hope to retire their old truck, behind them, soon.

Greetings Neighbors,

Attached is my latest newsletter. (Newsletter 2013.01.29.pdf)  It provides an update on the first few weeks of session.   I will be sending out regular newsletters during this session and holding several town hall meetings.  I look forward to keeping you informed and hearing your thoughts, concerns, and ideas.

Thank you,

Cathy

Senator Cathy Giessel

Senate District N (House Districts 27 & 28)

Chair Senate Resources Committee

Session contact:

State Capitol, Room 427, Juneau, AK 99801

Office 907 465 4843

Toll free 800 892 4843

JOIN THE CONVERSATION ON MANAGEMENT OF PUBLIC LAND
The Kenai Peninsula Borough (KPB) is finalizing its selection of state lands to be transferred to the borough under the Municipal Entitlement Land Grant. KPB is seeking public input to identify lands of local importance that should be considered to fulfill the 28,000 acres of our remaining land entitlement. These lands could be designated for community expansion and public purposes such as a school, fire station, transfer site, cemetery, residential subdivision, public open space, firewood site, commercial or industrial areas or a number of additional land uses. We want to hear from you, please take this opportunity to provide us your input!
Find project information, how to participate, the interactive map and survey on the borough website: http://www.borough.kenai.ak.us/landmgt/entitlements/projectinformation
Join us at the BOROUGH LAND MANAGEMENT SEWARD OPEN HOUSE
SEWARD ANNEX Mon Feb 4, 2013 3-7pm
302 Railway Ave Suite 122 (Sea View Plaza) Ph. 224-2001
The Borough Land Management Division will be available to present information, answer questions and assist individuals on how to use the web interactive map to provide input on lands of local importance. Computer stations will be available for the public to review maps and submit input.
Kenai Peninsula Borough Land Management Division
1-800-478-4441 ext 2205
907-714-2205