Agenda - Public Works Committee - 05/15/2007

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Case #9: Consider Driveway Paving Incentive City Engineer Jankowski reviewed that City Council has expressed a desire to initiate a discussion for an effort to eliminate unpaved driveways within the City. The benefit of such a goal would be the elimination of sediment migrating onto paved city streets and into the storm water drainage system. Secondary benefits would be improved neighborhood appearance and higher property values. This case is intended to begin a discussion on what type of program and incentives might be considered to achieve this goal. . Mr. Jankowski stated the City of Coon Rapids initiated a similar effort several years ago by passing an ordinance requiring all driveways to be paved within a period of several years from the time of adoption. In an effort to facilitate compliance with the ordinance the city solicited interested parties and put together a driveway paving project that assessed the full cost under the chapter 429 process. Participating parties needed to sign a waiver of the public hearing required by the process and.also agreed to be responsible for turf restoration and landscaping issues. This project covered perhaps 25 % of the unpaved driveways in the city. Coon Rapids has not vigorously enforced the program and is currently considering undertaking a second program at this time. City Engineer Jankowski reviewed the following issues to be considered with this type of program: Incentives Offered - The discussion which has initiated includes a monetary incentive for residents by having the city pick up a portion of the cost of the paving. Should the paving exceed beyond the property line, generally 15 to 21 feet? A legal issue may arise as to whether city funds can be used to fund improvements on private property. Perhaps Ramsey could pick up all or a portion of the paving costs within the public right-of-way, if this proves to be an impediment to the program. , Scope of Required Paving - This issue addresses what the length of the mandated paving should be. A few drives in the City extend for over a quarter. mile. Perhaps the required paving should be limited to the first 50 to 100 feet from the paved city street. . Alternately the length could be based upon the grade of the driveway approach, as steeper driveways 'present a $ignificantly higher erosion potential. Mandatory paving - Should an ordinance be adopted requiring paving or should the program be strictly voluntary with financial incentives to achieve goals? If paved driveways are to be required by ordinance, consideration should be given for hardship cases which can be anticipated. The issue of secondary driveways might also be addressed. Technical Issues - In some instances, particularly where properties are lower than the roadway, the paving of driveways may result in aggravating drainage problems. This would be more of an issue with smaller lots which are most often paved. The responsibilities for landscaping restoration and other damage to private property should be clearly defined. City Engineer Jankowski advised the funding source for a driveway paving program could come from the Stormwater Utility Fund since there would be a benefit in reduced street sweeping and increased stormwater quality. The amount of funding required is not known at this time. Prior to undertaking such a program the potential cost of this overall program could be quantified by undertaking an inventory of the numbers of unpaved driveways in the City. The Committee and staff discussed the following in relation to a driveway paving program: Public Works Committee / April 17, 2007 Page 15 of 18