10-17-2012 Council Special Minutes

Home Browse Search

MINUTES CITY COUNCIL OCTOBER 17, 2012 The City Administrator reported that the assessment is based on the City's Assessment Policy which has been in place for a number of years. He also noted that the Policy has been upheld in court, most recently for the Condit Street project where commercial properties without access to Condit Street were assessed for that improvement. 'I'he Administrator noted that the policy provides that commercial properties with access are assessed at twice the residential rate and commercial properties without access are assessed at the residential rate. Henry noted that the residential properties are all being assessed the same amount even though the amount of frontage varies. The City Engineer reported that a per unit assessment is proposed for these residential properties since each residential property likely has the same utilization of the street. Henry again noted the residential and commercial use of his property suggesting that his assessment be modified to have the frontage being assessed at the residential rate and the other at the commercial rate. The City Administrator agreed that this was a unique piece of property. He indicated, however, that he would not recommend a modification to the assessment roll given the City's Assessment Policy has been applied consistently in the past. He further commented that one could argue that the assessment should be higher due to the additional use. Henry was concerned about the fact that CVS Pharmacy is being assessed at the residential rate, and felt that applying the commercial rate to his property was heavy. The City Administrator again reviewed the history of the Condit Street assessment and the fact that the court upheld applying the residential assessment rate to a commercial property without street access. The Administrator stated that the City has had an Assessment Policy since the early 1990's and that Policy has been upheld. The Administrator also pointed out that the Rice Street Phase II project will be preceding within the next couple of years and the CVS Pharmacy property will likely have a substantial assessment from that improvement. Henry asked if his property would be assessed for Rice Street Phase II which includes a portion of County Road C. The Administrator was not sure whether or not the improvement would extend that far east on County Road C. The Administrator also reported that the State has asked the County to delay the project given Rice Street will be used as a detour route when the MN PASS project is under construction on 35E. Boss asked if the City ever considered traffic generation from a commercial property as part of the assessment process. The Administrator replied that traffic generation has not been a factor. He also noted that in calculating the assessment rate, any adjustment to what commercial properties are assessed on a project, results in a higher residential 4