Map / FAQs
Directions to the River Center:
Turn east onto Funny River Road at Mile 96.5 of the Sterling Highway in Soldotna, Alaska. The River Center is located at Mile 1.6 of Funny River Road, across from the Soldotna Municipal Airport.
What is the River Center?
The River Center is a multi-agency permitting, information, and education center. Borough, state, and federal agencies work together to protect the natural resources associated with Kenai Peninsula watersheds.
What agencies are at the River Center?
We have four agencies housed at the River Center that work together to protect and restore the rivers of the Kenai Peninsula, its watersheds, and its fish and wildlife resources:
- KPB Habitat Protection District
- KPB Floodplain Management
- Alaska Department of Natural Resources State Parks
- Alaska Department of Fish & Game Division of Habitat
River Center personnel also work closely with other state, local, and federal offices to further our mission, including: the Kenai Watershed Forum, US Army Corps of Engineers, US Fish and Wildlife Service, Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, and others.
Why was the River Center established?
The River Center was created to increase coordination and communication between permitting agencies in order to streamline the permitting process for landowners and improve protection of the Kenai Peninsula's natural resources. The River Center is also designed to serve as a source of information and education for landowners and others concerned with resource management.
How long has the River Center been in operation?
The River Center was officially established in early 1996 by a cooperative agreement between the State of Alaska and the Kenai Peninsula Borough. It opened in May of 1996, and in September of 2000 relocated to a new building at Mile 1.5 Funny River Road, across from the Soldotna Municipal Airport.
Where is the River Center's jurisdiction?
Staff members at the River Center either have the entire Kenai Peninsula as their area of responsibility or work closely with agency personnel stationed elsewhere to provide coverage. No matter where you live on the Kenai Peninsula, the River Center is a good starting place to find the answers to your permitting and resource management questions.
How does the River Center benefit landowners?
The River Center can be described as a "One-Stop Permit Shopping" opportunity. Because of overlapping jurisdictions, many projects require permits from more than one government agency. Rather than filling out applications for every agency, the River Center allows permit-seekers fill out one application. The application is then circulated by River Center staff to the appropriate agencies. Agency staff work closely with each other and with the applicants to develop projects that both meet the applicants' needs and protect natural resources.
River Center staff are also available to consult with landowners during the design phase of a project. Because our staff review so many different projects, they have a wealth of experience to share. In addition to helping landowners develop designs that are compliant with regulations, they can offer ideas for solving dilemmas and information about how various approaches have worked in similar areas. River Center staff are available to make "house calls" to project sites, and meetings can also be arranged at the River Center with landowners, contractors, and River Center staff for people who would like assistance with a project.
What other resources are available at the River Center?
The River Center is an excellent source of information on stream bank protection and restoration. In addition to our knowledgeable staff, we have examples of materials used in restoration, models, and even our own bank restoration and walkway project, which incorporates several different methods of bank restoration.
The River Center provides information on many other topics, as well. Flood insurance information, fish habitat, mining on area streams, and construction along salmon-bearing rivers are just some of the subjects that people find help with at the River Center.
Because so many agencies work together at the River Center, and because we also work closely with other agencies such as the US Army Corps of Engineers, US Fish and Wildlife Service, the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, Alaska Coastal Zone Management Program, and others, we can offer advice and information on a broad range of topics related to natural resource management and development. Contact us to see what we can do for you!
The River Center is a multi-agency permitting, outreach, and education center. We have four agencies housed at the River Center that work together to protect and restore the rivers of the Kenai Peninsula, its watersheds, and its fish and wildlife resources:
- KPB Habitat Protection District
- KPB Floodplain Management
- KPB Planning & Zoning
- Alaska Department of Fish & Game - Habitat Section
River Center personnel also work closely with other state, local, and federal offices to further our mission, including: the Kenai Watershed Forum, US Army Corps of Engineers, Alaska State Parks, US Fish and Wildlife Service, Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, and others.
What's Happening at the River Center?
FEMA Floodplain Map Update
KPB has been working with FEMA to update the Kenai River's regulatory floodplain maps, also known as Flood Insurance Rate Maps or FIRM's. The preliminary maps were released in January 2023. The final, effective maps are expected in the Fall 2024.
Want to learn more?
Visit the KPB Flood Map Update page!
We conducted a comprehensive survey of residents to improve boroughwide services to the public. Thousands participated in the survey by answering our questions and providing valuable comments. Your documented comments and feedback are directly helping guide improvements to road service and the many other roles the borough plays on the Kenai. We will continue to ensure that KPB residents receive quality services that they pay for at the lowest cost possible.
We have placed ourselves in the shoes of the taxpayer. Under the Micciche administration, for the first time in a decade, a balanced boroughwide budget was passed by the assembly. We accomplished this while reducing your mill rate (property taxes). Prior to my administration, the previous two years saw a 16% increase in the KPB budget. The Micciche administration’s overall budget increased by only 2.55%. The general fund budget was also reduced from last year’s and, leading by example, my Mayor’s Department budget decreased as well.
Working with the Kenai Peninsula School District, we are helping to bolster and improve home-school options. Trying to see things through the eyes of home-school parents, students and families helps us be responsive to the 30% of our students who are home-schooled. It is imperative that we understand and meet their needs.
We are working to make KPB Emergency Services as efficient as possible to better serve the people of the Kenai. Our view and current national practices demonstrate that combined regional services are far more efficient, and effective, and are provided at a lower cost to taxpayers than many smaller service areas. We also procured and distributed life-saving extrication equipment for our emergency responders to help them meet the highway rescue challenges faced in rural areas of the borough.
We updated and implemented anti-harassment and anti-bullying policies to ensure the safety of KPB employees and protect taxpayers from legal and settlement costs. This includes a confidential reporting system, a mixed-gender review panel, and improved public official bonding requirements to protect the borough from financial liability.
We responded in record time to condemn and remove the collapsing Zipmart building in Sterling, which had become a serious hazard to children and youth in a location right next to the elementary school and the community center.
We created a limited-in-scope ordinance that will update and clarify borough code regarding KPB elections. These changes will ensure that our elections continue to be safe, secure, transparent and accurate. A few of the improvements this ordinance will make include giving more information to the public about when the canvass board meets, requiring the hand-counting of ballots in at least one randomly selected precinct even in the absence of any discrepancies, creating a clear process for write-in candidates, and adding additional and improved viewing areas for citizen election observers.
We are tackling long-standing issues within the borough in partnership with KPB constituents, local governments and state and federal agencies. These issues include K-Beach and Eastern Peninsula flooding, KPB housing shortages (particularly in the southern and eastern Kenai Peninsula), rural emergency services support, and communication service gaps. We are also mitigating the overregulation of our citizens through common-sense solutions in partnership with those we serve within the KPB.
We awarded 44 capital improvement and professional services design contracts, as well as servicing pass-through funding to the private sector and non-profit grant recipients for services ranging from senior citizen programs to community groups. Funded projects include the new Central Emergency Service station, the new Soldotna Elementary School, CPH and SPH hospital projects, Eastway Road drainage improvements, the replacement of siding on Homer Elementary School, and many others.
We made improvements to KPB Solid Waste Management to reduce the enormous cost increases in that department that have occurred in previous years. We have reopened reuse areas, such as the “Sterling Mall” and are evaluating how to further reduce storing marketable materials in perpetuity in our landfills. The team is also evaluating the most efficient methods to reduce and process regulated leachate to reduce costs to taxpayers.
In accordance with KPB code, senior center funding is redistributed every 10 years after the census is conducted and shows how many seniors currently live in each area of the borough. Many centers had their funding increased through the current formula in the FY24 budget, but several were dramatically reduced. Working with KPB staff, Mayor Micciche created a “hold harmless” solution to fully fund all centers and to ensure that none of our seniors will go without critical services. The “hold harmless” solution passed the assembly unanimously.
We have created open lines of communication so that all citizens can participate in our efforts to challenge how the KPB does business through common-sense solutions to long-standing, inefficient practices. Government is known for falling into ruts of inefficiency. By working with you, we are challenging each department to break out of long-standing ruts and take the fast road of maximum efficiency. In other words, we seek to provide quality services at the lowest cost to the taxpayer with an objective to keep the KPB affordable today, tomorrow, and for our kids and grandkids.
