03-10-99 Council Workshop Minutes

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MINUTES CITY COUNCIL MARCH 10, 1999 The Engineer reported that the weight restrictions are only placed in late winter and early spring to protect the street while the frost is comin~ out of the ground. Fahey pointed out that the original proposal was to assess Cobblestone Village $51,400 and that staff's recommendation reduces that assessment to $12,152. Fahey asked if this recommendation would set precedent for future projects. Scalze asked how using front footage as a basis for this assessment would affect the Canabury complex as an example. Scalze felt that whatever method is used to assess this improvement, it should be one which could be applied fairly to other townhome developments in the City. Scalze felt that Cobblestone may have an unfair advantage since they have such limited frontage on Minnesota Avenue. Morelan agreed and pointed out that if Cobblestone Village was not located on the end of the street, the assessment might be higher. Morelan was not sure that Option #2 was equitable. Fahey asked why staff recommended Option #2. The City Administrator replied that stafftried to look at equity among the abutting property owners. Given frontage as well as traffic volumes for each property, it was felt that Option #2 was the most equitable. The City Engineer pointed out that in applying the strict interpretation of the City's Assessment Policy and then considering the level of assessment for each individual property, it did not seem that the Cobblestone Village assessment was equitable. The Engineer stated that the end result had to be considered as well as what a residential property would pay in comparison to a large commercial property in comparison to a commercial fast-food use with high trafFc volumes. Fahey asked how the townhomes and condos on Demont Avenue were assessed. The Administrator replied that in assessing the improvement of Demont Avenue several years ago, assessments were based on front footage with that assessment then divided by the number of units to come up with the per unit assessment. Morelan felt that Option #2 made sense from the standpoint of Cobblestone Village's location at the end of the street. However, if a townhome complex was located along the street, in the area of the strip mall as an example, the assessment would be much larger. The City Engineer agreed that if the uses along Minnesota Avenue were different, there would be a whole new set of circumstances to deal with.