Minutes - Public Works Committee - 11/21/2000

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December 31, 2000, regarding requests for actual credits that are currently available entitles that property owner to retroactivity. This is, of course, contingent upon successful approval of the credit application. Councilmember Hendriksen stated that in his opinion they should go with the five acre and 25% impervious criteria for the modified method and that there should be retroactivity initially to some date. City Engineer Olson stated that Mr. Gary Gruber had mentioned that there were other municipalities that give credits up to 80%. Through past experience, staff knows this to be true, however, they do think the reason there is an opportunity for larger credits available to other municipalities stems for the land use structure that is used so often in the implementation of storm drainage utilities. Every property has distinguishing characteristics that sets itself apart from every other property in the City. When determining what a particular land use should pay per acre, there are assumptions made regarding percent impervious that are not necessary for Ramsey's utility. For example, the commercial/industrial land use typically is approximately 70- 75% impervious and therefore gets a Residential Equivalence Factor around five. Diamonds Sports Bar has an impervious percentage of 20% which is equivalent to a REF of 1.82 in Ramsey's system. Had Diamond's been in a City that used land use instead he would have started out with a quarterly fee of $2,096.64 instead of $763.06 which is 64 percent higher. This along with the ponding credits available would have given him an 82 percent credit from $2,096.64 leaving him with a quarterly charge of $377.40. His quarterly charge at the City of Ramsey is $381.53 (without the credit criteria for the modified method changing) and $212.31 (with change to the modified credit). City staff recommended that there be no change to the credit percentages in the existing resolution. Councilmember Zimmerman stated that he needs more time to review the information from staff. He stated that he agrees with the modified method, but does not know to what extent they want to go down to the smallest size. Councilmember Hendriksen replied that if someone is only using 25 percent of five acres they should receive a credit. City Engineer Olson stated that the cost that can be reasonably be expected to apply for a credit should be $200.00, $600.00, or $1,200 depending upon the level of information that the person is applying for the credit has. This information comes directly from the consultant that the City would hire if the decision was made to take on the responsibility of calculating these credits. This is also under the assumption that the information is provided to them. There is a direct correlation to the amount that would be charged and the time it takes to complete these tasks. Staff believes that although the existing credit application can be cumbersome, it clearly defines the criteria that enables a property to receive a credit. It is also reasonable to expect the property owner to supply the information necessary to justify that adjustment. In this manner, all of the property owners in the City are treated equally. If the responsibility of assigning credits comes to the City of Ramsey, there is a liability that someone was treated unfairly. This could also set the City up to be accountable for sometimes scarce information on prior developments. Public Works Committee/November 21, 2000 Page 6 of 10