Agenda - Council - 12/09/2014 - Laserfiche WebLink

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lour 1111.1siion: To work together to reiposffity grow our community, and to provide quality, coat -effective, and efficient government ierrlcas. CC Regular Session 7. 3. Meeting Date: 12/09/2014 By: Bruce Westby, Engineering/Public Works Information Title: Adopt Resolution #14-12-250 Adopting Special Assessments Policy for City Improvement Projects. Purpose/Background: Purpose: The purpose of this case is to consider adopting Resolution #14-12-251 adopting a Special Assessments Policy for City Improvement Projects. Background: Attached is a draft Special Assessments Policy that, if implemented, will help offset some of the costs needed to reconstruct the 176-plus miles of existing City streets that are in need of being reconstructed. Without a Franchise Fee or some other means of funding the long-term street reconstruction program, staff was directed to develop the attached draft Special Assessments Policy. Below is a chronology of the process that was followed to develop the attached draft Special Assessments Policy. May 20th - Public Works Committee directs City Staff to develop a Special Assessments Policy to establish the City's process for levying special assessments against properties benefiting from Improvement Projects including street reconstruction projects. As was also discussed, even if special assessments are not utilized to fund street improvement projects, it would be advantageous for the City to have an adopted Special Assessments Policy. June 25th - Charter Commission amends Section 8.4.5 of the City Charter by increasing the percentage of property owners required to petition against City Council initiated public improvements utilizing special assessments as a funding source from greater than 50% to at least 60%. While this action will make it slightly more difficult for property owners to petition against Council initiated improvements utilizing special assessments for partial funding, it still will not prevent petitions from occurring. August 14th - Public Works Committee reviews the first draft of the Special Assessments Policy, which was developed using the model Special Assessments Policy by Ehlers and Associates, Inc. as posted on the League of Minnesota Cities (LMC) web site. A copy of this model policy is attached for reference. Since two voting members were absent, Staff was directed to bring the draft Policy back for review again at a later date. The Committee did however provide several comments including that all applicable MSA funds must first be applied to the City's share of the project costs, that no conflicts can exist between the Policy and the City Charter, and that the Policy should provide as much flexibility as possible in considering existing property sizes, shapes, development status (developed vs. undeveloped), etc. when levying assessments. September 16th - Public Works Committee reviews the draft Special Assessments Policy and directs Staff to revise the draft Policy incorporating proposed assessment percentages and by using Staff's proposed recommendations