Agenda - Council - 02/14/2017 - Laserfiche WebLink

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differences that should be accounted for when calculating assessments; whether a parcel has direct access onto an improved street, and whether the parcel abuts other City streets requiring future improvements whose costs will be assessed to the parcel. Staff therefore developed and applied the following adjustments to the area method of assessment. • Properties abutting Sunwood Drive only with access onto Sunwood Drive are proposed to be assessed for 100% of their property area. • Properties abutting Sunwood Drive and other City streets, with access onto Sunwood Drive, are proposed to be assessed for 75% of their property area. • Properties abutting Sunwood Drive with no access onto Sunwood Drive are proposed to be assessed for 50% of their property area. These adjustments are relatively similar to adjustments found in other cities assessment policies which adjust assessment calculations to allow industrial properties with multiple accesses and/or frontages to be assessed between 150% and 200% for improvements completed to all abutting streets. Based on the proposed percentages above, B&F Fastener Supply will pay assessments for 150% of their property area for mill and overlay and reconstruction improvements on Sunwood Drive and Jaspar Street, both of which they directly abut and have access onto. Vision Ease will pay assessments based on 200% of their property area for improvements made to Sunwood Drive, 143rd Avenue, and Jaspar Street since they abut all three and have access onto Sunwood Drive and 143rd Avenue (75% each), but no access onto Jaspar Street (50%). Lastly, Altron, Inc. and the small City parcel on the east end of Sunwood Drive are both proposed to be assessed for 50% of their property areas since neither has direct access onto Sunwood Drive. This analysis strictly considers existing conditions. If a property that is assessed for 50% of the property area based on not having access onto an improved street requests an access onto an improved street in the future, the assessment amount they forgiven could be collected through the permitting process. Staff will consider available methods to capture such funds, and will report our findings and recommendations to Council at an upcoming work session. The Special Assessments Policy can then be amended to include such language, as well as to address any assessment calculation adjustments approved by Council. A revised assessment map and assessment roll are attached which reflect the proposed property area percentage adjustments outlined above. In addition, the property area for (Anderson Dahlen) was corrected to include all of their property. The assessment map and roll in the draft Feasibility Report accepted by Council on January 24h inadvertently omitted a significant portion of their benefiting property area because the parcel data in the City's GIS system that was used to create the assessment map and roll for the Feasibility Report had not yet been updated with the new parcel data based on the recent replat associated with their current building expansion project. All costs for this project are eligible for special assessments since the street is proposed to be reconstructed at its existing width, which meets current State Aid standards, and since the existing and proposed pavement sections both meet 10-ton design standards and are therefore equivalent sections. Staff recommends ordering a benefit appraisal consultation report for this project to verify that the proposed assessment amounts will not exceed the amount of benefit to any assessable properties. If the report concludes that the benefit to any property is less than the proposed assessment, Staff will propose to lower the assessment accordingly at the Assessment Hearing scheduled for October 10, 2017. However, if the benefit appraisal consultation report finds that the benefit exceeds the proposed assessment for any property, Staff will propose to adopt the final assessment using the assessment preliminarily proposed within the Feasibility Report. Attached to this case in a copy of the City's Special Assessments Policy adopted in December 2014 and amended January 2015. Based on input received from the frim that conducts our benefit appraisal consultations at the time the policy was developed, language was included in Section 6.10, "Benefit Appraisals", stating "As a general rule, benefit appraisal consultations may be ordered when the proposed assessment exceeds $5,000 for a standard city street reconstruction project on a residential lot, or $20,000 per acre for commercial or industrial property." Since none of the proposed assessments come close to approaching $20,000 per acre, Staff is confident the benefit appraisal consultation report will find that the proposed assessments are defendable. Public Input At the time this case was published, Staff had met with owners of 5 of the 7 identified assessable properties. Below