01-22-2025 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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STAFF REPORT TO: Mayor Fischer and Members of City Council FROM: Bill Dircks, Public Works Director DATE: January 22, 2025 RE: Right-of-Way Cooperative Agreement with Ramsey County for County Road D ACTION TO BE CONSIDERED: Approve cooperative agreement with Ramsey County for right-of-way and easement acquisition as part of County Road D Improvement Project. BACKGROUND: The city led a project in 2020 to reconstruct County Road D from Payne Avenue to Greenbrier Street in order to extend a storm sewer pipe to serve Greenbrier Street, which was also reconstructed in 2020. Ramsey County approved the project and reimbursed the City based on the cost participation policy adopted by the Ramsey County Board. The remainder of County Road D from Greenbrier Street east to Highway 61 has been in need of reconstruction for some time and was finally programmed for 2025. The last two years have been spent putting plans together for the project and a crucial part of that is determining if any additional right-of-way, permanent easement, or temporary construction easement is necessary to complete the project. The portion of the work taking place within Little Canada will only require temporary construction easements. Temporary construction easements are needed only during construction to enable proper grading to match the undisturbed property to the newly constructed road and boulevard. The grade and elevation of the road will change in some areas to enable storm water to be conveyed into the new system being added to the street. In some cases, that means the street will be lower than it was prior to reconstruction so the yard needs to be matched into the new elevation. Rather than an abrupt, steep match it is preferred to have a more gradual match, which requires grading past the right-of-way and into private property. Permanent easements are purchased when the property will be needed for a utility or other reason and they last into perpetuity but the property owner still owns the property the easement is on. In some cases, additional right-of-way is needed and that costs even more to acquire as it is the purchase of property for permanent use as part of the road. Fortunately, only temporary easements are needed for the portion of the project in Little Canada. A list of addresses where temporary easements are needed is included with this report along with a map showing their locations. Ramsey County has a process for putting the easements together and arriving at a value for each and that process resulted in an estimated $164,604 in costs associated with acquiring and paying for the easements. These costs are split 50/50 between Ramsey County and the City of Little Canada in accordance with the Ramsey County Cost Participation Policy. Following approval of the agreement the County can begin acquiring the easements to be ready for construction in the spring.