Cutting through parking lots in Kenai will cost $75 per offense starting later this month, after Kenai City Council members approved a new fine for the practice sometimes called "rat running."
Rat running refers to when a driver uses private or public property as a shortcut or to bypass things like traffic lights and stop signs. The ordinance passed by council members says that creates dangerous conditions for pedestrians.
Samantha Springer, the executive director of the Kenai Chamber of Commerce and Visitor Center, said the problem is especially common near the center.
"It's been very – it's dangerous, the way people have driven through the parking lot," she told council members at a meeting last month. "I think for about a year now I've been sending emails regarding it because it is such a hazard to our staff and visitors and kids."
The city has installed concrete barriers, directional signs and speed bumps to help curb rat running in the chamber parking lot. But so far, the city hasn't identified a workable long-term solution. Vice Mayor Henry Knackstedt brought the initiative forward and said he thinks a fine would complement some of those other strategies.
Kenai Police Chief David Ross said his department will enforce the new rule the same way it does other city and state laws. If an officer sees somebody breaking the new law or gets a report that someone has broken the law, that driver can be fined.
"If we didn't see the infraction and we don't have a witness, then we don't have something we can cite somebody for," he said. "Just like running a stop sign."
The ordinance passed unanimously, and takes effect July 18.
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