01-25-10 Council Special Minutes

Home Browse Search

MINUTES CITY COUNCIL JANUARY 25, 201.0 on what the City could sell bonds for at the time of the assessment hearing which will be in late October if the improvement proceeds. At the time of that hearing, the City will have actual costs. One property owner asked if the bids are 10% over estimate if they will be rejected and the improvement not move forward. Montour noted that the City expects that the City Engineers estimate will be close to actual or slightly high. He indicated that the hope is that the actual bids will be Iowa than estimate, but indicated that the City does not inflate the estimate. One property owner compared the estimated assessments between a couple of the properties. The City Engineer noted the Assessment Policy's odd-shaped lot formula and explained that formula in detail. One property owner noted that their property fronts on Little Canada Road, yet the proposal is to assess their side yard at 100%. The City Engineer indicated that given Little Canada Road is a County road, this property may never be assessed for improvements on Little Canada Road. He did note that typically, however, side yard frontages for residential properties are assessed at 20%. The property owner asked if there were any guarantees that the County would never assessment their property for Little Canada Road improvements. 'The City Administrator indicated that the County does not have the ability to assess. However, the County could ask the City to assess for street improvements. The City Administrator noted that the City retains assessment records, and staff would review those records to ensure that the property did not receive full assessments for both frontages. Joe Smith, 2682 Schletty Drive, again raised the issue of the odd-shaped lot formula. The City Administrator indicated that this project may be one that would lend itself to a unit assessment given all the frontages are fairly close. One property owner felt that the condition of the street was fine and noted the limited number of houses on the street and the limited traffic. The City Administrator explained the City's process for evaluating street condition, and noted that it is the City's goal to max out the life of a street. Part of those efforts is to do mill and overlays of streets at a more economical cost delaying the need for full reconstruction. The Administrator pointed out that a mill and overlay is a typical preventative maintenance step. The Administrator indicated that while the actual street conditions are not as apparent at this time due to snow and ice cover, the street was evaluated in late summer and over the fall and was rated as meriting a mill and overlay. 13