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

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for assessment methods. Staff was then directed to bring the draft Policy to a future City Council Work Session for review and input from the full Council. October 14th - City Council reviews the draft Special Assessments Policy at work session and provides additional comments for incorporation into the draft policy for consideration at a future work session. November 18th - City Council reviews the draft Special Assessments Policy at work session and provides additional comments for incorporation into the draft policy based on input from City Attorney Langel and Mr. Jason Messner of Patchin, Messner and Dodd, a firm specializing in real estate appraisals. Based on their input, Staff was directed to provide Policy language allowing Council to order appraisal consultations on improvement projects as needed to help verify that the amount of the special assessments will not exceed the benefit to the property. As discussed, typical fees for special benefit consultations range from $5,000 to $7,000 depending on the type and scope of the public improvement project. Attached is a clean copy of the final draft of the Special Assessments Policy addressing all comments received from the Public Works Committee and City Council. A track changes version of the attached Policy will be available at the meeting for review if needed. Notification: No notification was required for this case. Observations/Alternatives: Observations: It is important to note that the attached draft Special Assessments Policy complies fully with our City Charter requirements related to special assessments. The City Attorney has reviewed the draft Policy to ensure it has both the proper legal form and that it conforms to the special assessment requirements outlined in Chapter 8 of the City Charter, which is attached for reference. Section 6 of the attached draft Policy addresses the three special conditions that the City Council felt would be appropriate for the City to cover all costs for to prevent property owners from paying special assessments on improvements they could not possibly foresee. The three conditions include subgrade corrections to replace unsuitable underlying soils, converting rural streets to urban streets by filling in ditches and adding curb and gutter and storm sewer, and oversizing existing City streets by either widening or increasing the load carrying capacity of the pavement section. Section 10 of the draft Policy addresses the fact that special assessments levied against medium to higher density single-family properties roughly one-third acre or smaller will likely not exceed the benefit to the property if assessed 25% of project costs. However, if 25% of project costs are levied against lower density single-family properties greater than one-third acre or so the assessments may exceed the benefit to the property. And as the property area increases, so do the chances that a special assessment of 25% of the project costs will exceed the benefit to the property since there are fewer properties to spread project costs across. Therefore, allowing for the use of benefit appraisals and appraisal consultations is important considering that a majority of single-family residential properties in Ramsey are lower density. Since the first street reconstruction projects will occur in areas with lower density single-family properties, staff will be recommending the use of benefit appraisal consultations with these projects. Attached is a figure showing the higher density residential urban properties throughout Ramsey (see shaded properties) that will likely allow the use of 25% assessments when reconstructing abutting City streets. All other properties will likely not realize enough benefit to allow for the use of 25% assessments and will therefore require benefit appraisal consultations as approved by Council. When developing the draft Policy, special assessment policies from numerous other cities were obtained and reviewed. These cities included Andover, Blaine and Champlin, among others. Attached is a tabulation of some of the more pertinent assessment information gathered from other cities policies.