Minutes - Public Works Committee - 01/15/2002

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Mayor Gamec stated that typically the County's policy is that cities are required to acquire the necessary right-of-way. Councilmember Zimmerman replied that staff needs to find out what the policy is before proceeding. He stated that he would like to see each City be responsible for its own right-of-way. Councilmember Hendriksen stated that if they are only paying for the necessary right-of-way in their City then he felt that staff should proceed with acquisition of the necessary land, but if the City is going to have to pay a percentage of all the necessary right-of-way then he felt it was a different scenario. City Engineer Jankowski noted that he had been told previously that for new roads the City is required to acquire the fight-of-way, but with widening it was the County's responsibility. Councilmember Anderson stated that there also seems to be a question of how much room is going to be needed to widen the road. Councilmember Zimmerman noted that the County may be purchasing the right-of-way, but it does not eliminate the access. Councilmember Kurak stated that directly across the property being discussed is property owned by Anoka and it may not necessarily be true that all of the additional easement will be taken on the Ramsey side. She stated that she would agree with acquiring the entire property, but does not want the City to become a landlord. City Engineer Olson stated that he would research who is responsible for acquiring the necessary fight-of-way and then bring the issue back for further consideration. Councilmember Zimmerman inquired if there would be funds available to acquire the property. Mayor Gamec stated that he would recommend that the City purchase the entire parcel to be economical and then sell the property. Councilmember Hendriksen suggested that staff approach the property owner to acquire the necessary additional fight-of-way first because he felt that the property owners would still be able to sell their house for the same amount of money as they are currently asking and anything they received for the right-of-way would be additional money. Councilmember Zimmerman stated that they need to develop a policy on how they are going to handle future property acquisition, but felt they needed to wait until staff researches the necessary information. City Engineer Olson stated that staff will get the necessary information from the County regarding funding, and inquired if staff was being directed to approach the property owners regarding the additional right-of-way. Public Works Committee/January 15, 2002 Page 6 of 10