Agenda - Council - 11/14/2000 - Laserfiche WebLink

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CASE CONTINUATION OF DISCUSSION OF THE STORNI DRAINAGE UTILITY Brian E. Olson, City Engineer Background: The Council adopted Ordinance 00-01 creating a storm drainage utility on January 11, 2000. Pursuant to Ordinance 00-01, the Council adopted Resolution 00-06-165 establishing the storm drainage utility rates and charges. On July 25, 2000 the Council adopted Ordinance 00-10 which Ordinance amended Ordinance 00-01. Observations: On October 19, 2000, City Staff had a meeting with representatives of the Anoka'Area Chamber of Commerce to discuss the storm drainage utility. The thoughts expressed at his meeting related to making it easier for applying and receiving the credits that are available: This issue was discussed at great lengths because of the fact that it cost Diamonds Sports Bar $600 to complete the application form. The City was also concerned that it would cost a business $600 to complete the credit application. Prior experience with the same credit application lead Staff to believe that it would only amount to approximately $150 - $250 for a business that had already paid an engineer to prepare their drainage plan. Attached to this case is a memo from Mr. Pete Raatikka from Hakanson Anderson Associates. His memo suggests that it would cost approximately $200 if they had done the original drainage plan, $600 if they had the drainage plan and had not completed the design of the storm drainage facility in question, and $1200 if there was no drainage plan and they had to. send a survey crew out to complete the site measurements, As the resolution is written, the property owner must apply for the credits available for the storm drainage fee. This relieves the City of the liability created if we do not apply a credit to a property that would be eligible and requires that the property owner sign a document that says that they will maintain the pond as long as they want the credit. Staff will attempt to draft language that provides assistance to businesses who desire to apply for the storm drainage utility credits and distribute it at the City Council meeting. Another concern that was expressed at the Public Works Committee meeting held on October 17, 2000, was how the City of Ramsey's rates compare to storm drainage utility rates of other communities. Attached to this case is a list of some of the utilities in the Twin Cities metropolitan area that also have storm drainage utilities. It is important, to consider that every utility is fashioned a bit differently. The need for this maintenance fund is justified as illustrated in the attached budget for the storm drainage utility. G:\users\City Shared File\Engineering\2000 Projects\Storm Drainage Utility\Cases\phi 11400ce.doc --255--