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6. Special Cases. It is recognized that these rules cannot be <br />applied indiscriminately and variations shall be permitted or <br />encouraged when strict adherence to the rules obviously violates <br />the Special Benefit Principle as specified in Section II, Item 3. <br />SECTION III <br />SPECIFIC POLICIES <br />Project Initiation and Hearing Process <br />This section describes the initiation of improvement projects and the <br />administration required to receive final City Council action, <br />pursuant to the requirements of Minnesota Statutes Chapter 429. <br />A. Project Initiation <br />1. By Petition: Citizen petitions for initiating a street <br />improvement will be prepared by City staff upon request <br />of property owner(s). Such petitions circulated by the <br />affected property owners shall bear the signatures of <br />property owners of not less than 35 %, of the affected <br />frontage as measured on a lineal footage basis. <br />When projects are initiated through this process, the <br />costs of doing engineering feasibility studies and <br />associated project consideration costs may be borne by <br />the property owner(s) so petitioning. A deposit may be <br />required of the petitioners prior to commencement of the <br />study to cover the costs of same if construction does not <br />proceed. If the project proceeds through construction <br />and assessment, those costs will be considered project <br />costs and any deposit made would be credited accordingly <br />to the depositors. <br />2. By Council Action: If the Council determines that an <br />improvement is in the best interests of the City, it can, <br />without petition, initiate the improvement with a <br />four /fifths vote of the Council. <br />Generally, initiation will be based upon an inspection <br />of City street conditions conducted by staff with an <br />assessment rating of the condition. This rating shall <br />then be used to determine the priority of street <br />improvements in the City's Five Year Street Improvement <br />Plan. The City will typically improve streets that have <br />the highest priority first. However, circumstances may <br />exist which would require deviation from this objective. <br />B. Hearing Process <br />1. Improvement Hearing: After a petition is filed and its <br />adequacy determined, or the Council initiates the <br />project, the City Engineer is directed to study and <br />-4- <br />Page <br />