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Citi o� <br />� yn�tada <br />515 Little Canada Road, Little Canada, MN 55117-1600 <br />(651) 766-4029 / FAX: (651) 766-4048 <br />www.ci.little-canada.mn.us <br />MEMORANDUM <br />TO: Mayor Keis & Members of the City Council <br />FROM: Joel Hanson, City Administrator <br />DATE: November 5, 2015 <br />RE: Cobblestone Village & Private Street Reimbursement Request <br />MAYOR <br />John Keis <br />COUNCIL <br />Rick Montour <br />Michael McGraw <br />Tom Fischer <br />Christian Torkelson <br />ADMINISTRATOR <br />Joel R. Hanson <br />Attached is a letter received from Mr. James Johnson (Attachment A), a resident in the <br />Cobblestone Village townthome association. You will note that he is requesting the City to <br />reimburse Cobblestone for street maintenance and snow plowing costs not expended within their <br />development that are part of property tax payments. I did discuss this request with Mr. Johnson <br />and informed him a better approach would be to request the City to take over maintenance of the <br />streets. I told him city services are not "ala carte" and that it likely isn't legal for us to make a <br />payment in this manner and comply with "public purpose" requirements for expenditures. He <br />felt he wanted to continue in the mariner requested. <br />From the homeowners' perspective, this is a question of equity; i.e. they pay association dues to <br />maintain private streets and they still pay real estate taxes. Those taxes include a street <br />maintenance component that they do not fully benefit from. <br />From the City's perspective, a development was approved that may have allowed less than <br />standard streets, densities, setbacks that enabled a developer to make a project more feasible by <br />lowering development costs on a per unit basis. Those lower costs would also have benefited <br />future owners. <br />Here are some of the issues for the Council to consider in reviewing this request: <br />Making payment to an association for "unused" services may not be legal in terms of the <br />"public purpose" test for expending funds. It would also set a bad precedent by implying <br />city services are "ala carte". <br />The application of this decision should be consistent for other associations. They include <br />Pitrina Park, Round Lake Estates, Nature Way, and Canabury Townhomes. In fact, <br />Canabury Townhomes is in the process of pursuing a Housing Improvement Area (HIA) <br />to upgrade their driveway/street access. (In very simplistic terms, an HIA allows the City <br />