Minutes - Public Works Committee - 01/17/2006

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Motion by Councilmember Olson, seconded by Councilmember Cook, to accept the petition contingent on City Attorney review. Motion carried. Voting Yes: Chairperson Elvig, Councilmembers Olson and Cook. Voting No: None. Further discussion: Assistant Public Works Director Olson advised there is some risk the City takes in preparing the feasibility study. If this is a legal document that represents more than 35% of the neighborhood they have the right to petition. However, if there is a counter-petition there is no way to absorb the cost of the feasibility study. According to code, the petition will be brought forward to the next City Council meeting, at which time the Council should direct the City Attomey to review the document. APPROVEAGENDA Motion by Councilmember Olson, seconded by Councilmember Cook, to approve the agenda as submitted. Assistant Public Works Director Olson indicated there will be a discussion of maintenance staff issues on private roads during the Committee Input portion of the meeting. Motion carried. Voting Yes: Chairperson Elvig, Councilmembers Olson and Cook. Voting No: None. COMMITTEE BUSINESS Case #1: Consider Establishing Process for Subdivision Street Lighting Requests City Engineer Jankowski explained the City has required the installation of subdivision street lights in urban subdivisions beginning in 1991. In addition a few rural subdivisions have also installed subdivision street lights either as a result of a petition or as a result of the developer choosing to have lights installed as a part of the subdivision infrastructure. Staff receives periodic inquires from the public on the process for getting street lights installed in areas currently without them. Staff has advised such inquires that a petition to the City would be an appropriate method for initiating a street lighting request, however little additional details of the process can be provided since the City's Street Lighting policy does not address this aspect. It would be helpful to more fully develop a policy to describe this policy. City Engineer Jankowski advised the major areas of such a policy that would need to be addressed would include defining the area proposed to receive street lighting, and identifying the costs associated with installation and how these are to be financed. It would appear that installation costs in an existing urban subdivision could be expected to be in the neighborhood of $1,000 per unit. These costs could be special assessed or could be recouped over a period of time as a supplemental charge on the street lighting utility billing. In addition, staff would note that street lighting is often a very polarized issue with many residents having both strong feelings of support and opposition. A public heating is a required element of the special assessment process, Public Works Committee/January 17, 2006 Page 3 of 14