Agenda - Public Works Committee - 08/14/2014

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Public Works Committee 6. 1. Meeting Date: 08/14/2014 By: Bruce Westby, Engineering/Public Works Title: Review draft Special Assessment Policy for City Improvement Projects. Purpose/Background: On May 20th the Public Works Committee directed staff to develop a draft Special Assessments Policy to establish how special assessments are to be levied against properties benefiting from various types of City improvement projects, including street reconstruction projects. As was discussed at the time, even if special assessments are not needed to fund improvement projects it would be advantageous to the City to have an adopted assessment policy. Then on June 25th the Charter Commission voted to amend Section 8.4.5 of the City Charter to increase the percentage of property owners required to petition against Council initiated public improvements utilizing special assessments as a funding source from greater than 50% to greater than 60%. The effect of this amendment will make it harder for the public to petition against Council initiated improvement projects. In light of the above actions, and considering the inability to apply Franchise Fees to fund street reconstruction projects in the foreseeable future, City staff has developed the attached draft Special Assessments Policy for review by the Public Works Committee this evening. The attached draft policy was developed from the model Special Assessments Policy prepared by Ehlers and Associates, Inc. as posted on the League of Minnesota Cities (LMC) web site, and is intended to be a work in progress. Staff amended the model policy to address any considerations relevant to the City of Ramsey as tabulated below. If any of these considerations are determined to be unnecessary they can be removed from the draft policy. Conversely, additional considerations can be added to the draft policy. Timeframe: 30 minutes Observations/Alternatives: The following considerations are addressed in the attached draft Special Assessments Policy. • Subgrade corrections • Rural to urban street conversions • Double fronting properties • Corner properties • Property classification/zoning • Property size/density (large lot vs. small lot) • Property shape/configuration • Front footage versus per unit rate application Pending the outcome of the Committee's discussion and direction to staff, any of the above considerations can be deleted or expanded upon in the draft policy for future consideration and discussion. Additional considerations can also be added to the draft policy as needed. As has previously been discussed, special assessments at the minimum rate of 20% for street reconstruction projects may exceed $10,000, particularly on larger lots greater than an acre in area. This amount is significantly more than property owners in the City of Ramsey have been assessed in the past for seal -coat and overlay projects. Such assessments have generally been $2,000 or less for residential properties, and $7,000 or less for commercial/industrial properties. On May 20th the Public Works Committee also directed staff to research other cities special assessments policies to