Agenda - Council - 10/13/2015 - Laserfiche WebLink

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of property location, size, length of frontage, or number of accesses. Per the City's adopted Special Assessments Policy, the costs to correct unsuitable subgrade soils are not eligible special assessment costs. These costs must therefore be paid with City funds. Public Comment A Public Information Meeting was conducted for this project on February 18, 2015. Property owners from 2 of the 10 assessable properties attended the meeting. The general consensus at the meeting was that this project was long overdue. A question was raised as to why B618 concrete curb and gutter was being proposed, and whether leaving the curb and gutter off would reduce project costs, and therefore their assessments. The residents were informed that City Staff recommends installing the concrete curb and gutter to better facilitate drainage, and to help protect the edges of the new pavement, and that the Public Works Committee supported this recommendation. It was also discussed that the amount of their assessment would likely not be affected if the curb and gutter was removed since their assessments were not set at 25% of project costs. An Improvement Hearing was held for this project on February 24, 2015. Comments received at the hearing again supported the project in general, but questions were again raised as to the need for B618 concrete curb and gutter and the impact this could have on providing reasonable access to properties. At that time it was discussed that Staff would work with property owners to ensure that accesses will be reasonably accommodated as allowed by City code while constructing concrete curb and gutter with the project as proposed. Notification: Notice for this hearing was published once in the City's official newspaper, the Anoka Union Herald, on Friday, September 25th. Individual notices of the hearing were also mailed to property owners proposed to be assessed for the improvements. Attached is a copy of the Assessment Hearing Notice that was mailed to residents on September 25th, which exceeded the 2 week notice requirement as defined by State statute. Observations/Alternatives: Observations: Construction of this project is substantially complete. Bituminous pavement wear course is proposed to be paved the week of October 19th. Regarding the railroad crossing quiet zone improvements, the required agreements between Elk River and BNSF were recently executed which means BNSF can now complete the crossing gate work and surface widening at the 165th Avenue and Jarvis Street crossings. However, Elk River still has not received a schedule from BNSF as to when this work will be done, but Elk River will continue to push for the work to be done as soon as possible. At this point it appears the quiet zone improvements will not be completed until 2016, meaning the quiet zones at Jarvis Street and 160 Avenue will not be established until the fall of 2016 or later. Proposed Assessments The 10 benefiting residential properties are proposed to be assessed using the preliminarily approved assessment rate of $4,500 per property accessing the improved street, resulting in a total assessment of $45,000. The proposed interest rate for special assessments is 4.16%, and assessments are proposed to carry a 10 year term. The attached hearing notice includes a schedule of payment showing annual payments including principal and interest. Also attached are assessment rolls and maps showing the locations of the 10 properties proposed to be assessed. As the City continues to implement the long-term street maintenance program, including annual street reconstruction projects, Staff will continue to define reasonable assessment amounts for street reconstruction projects. Based on the findings of the special benefit consultation report, which is not attached per the request of the appraisal firm that completed the report, it is anticipated that properties benefiting from the improvements and proposed to be assessed will be enhanced in value by approximately $7,500 to $8,000 per property. Based on the findings of the special benefit consultation report for this project, Staff will likely recommend increasing residential assessment rates on future street reconstruction projects slightly. However, this will be explored in greater detail within the Feasibility Report for each future street reconstruction project since assessment rates are project specific based on proposed improvements.