Agenda - Council Work Session - 10/22/2019

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the City is obligated to ensure proper erosion control during construction or in the event of a project default. The surety also allows the City to clean up nuisances created by an uncompleted, defaulted project. Based on administration of several recent projects, Staff recommends that the surety amount be reduced to 25% of the Engineer's Estimate and held through a 1-Year Warranty Period after final completion. The warranty is already a requirement of any project. A majority of Developers do not object to the current obligation, but do note that other local municipalities have a lower rate. Staff does recommend that a surety should continue to be required, but is supportive of a lower amount. PERMIT FEES The structure of collection of Building Permit Fees is required by the Minnesota State Building Code. For the most part, fees must be based on the value of the project. There are a few exceptions that allow flat rate fees. In the past, the Department of Labor of Industry, who administers the State Building Code, has expressed concern that Ramsey has too many flat rate fees and should be doing more based on valuation. The amount collected based on this structure is up to the local municipality. Over the past 3 years, the City has been reducing Building Permit Rates (on average approximately 10%). At the same time, the City has been adding needed resources to keep up with work demand. With recent technology enhancements, the City has right -sized our permit fees. Our fees appear to be within the median range of peer communities. DEVELOPER FEEDBACK Staff has reached out to a few Developers with experience in other communities for specific feedback on our general rates and charges. Developer A - Medium Density Residential Developer I see City of Ramsey Development Fees to be about $9,000 per lot. That is right in the middle of what we see. Peer Community A (Developed Community) is less than half. Peer Community B (Nearby Developing Community) is almost double. In my opinion, I don't have too much concern about the amount of the City Fee under the following circumstances: • The fees are easy to find • The fees don't change while we are under contract for the land • The fees don't go up dramatically from year to year • There is a clear nexus from the fees paid to the services delivered Developer B - Single Family Residential Builder (Local/Regional) The Park and Trail Fee (combined) is the highest of all the neighborhoods we develop (metro edge communities) at approximately $5,000. Ostego reduced their Park Fee significantly from $4,057 per unit to $1,986 per unit. Developer C - Single -Family Residential Builder (National) - Captured from University of Minnesota Ramsey RCP Partnership The City of Ramsey does have competitive fees when compared to other cities where we develop, which spread across the Twin Cities Metro. Two of those cities that are closest to Ramsey are Anoka and Otsego. Anoka is largely developed with few opportunities for large tracts of undeveloped land. Because of this, the land that is being developed is closer to established infrastructure and utilities, lowering the cost of trunk fees, staff processing costs, etc. Ramsey, on the other hand, does have more undeveloped land further outside the city center. As a result, Ramsey and Otsego's general trunk and application fees are higher to support the long-term maintenance to the new infrastructure.