10-16-2013 Council Special Minutes

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MINUTES CITY COUNCIL OCTOBER 16, 2013 ANNEXATION DISCUSSION Blesener reported that given there are nine Little Canada properties in this area and most of the services to these properties comes from the City of Maplewood, the Council wanted to discuss the potential detachment /annexation of these properties with the owners. Little Canada has had some preliminary discussion with the City of Maplewood which indicated that they would annex the properties if that is the desire of Little Canada and these property owners. Blesener informed the property owners that it was the feeling of the City Council that Little Canada would proceed with the detachment and annexation if that is their desire. Keis pointed out that another contributing factor is that the amount of assessment for the project is less to Maplewood properties than Little Canada properties, due to the differences in the two cities' assessment policies. Therefore, it was thought that the annexation to Maplewood would save the Little Canada property owners some money. McGraw indicated that the City Council felt that these Little Canada property owners have the right to explore this issue. The property owner at the corner of County Road B and McMenemy indicated that they have no services to their property, i.e. water, sewer, or gas. He asked if Maplewood would require installation of these services. It was noted that water and sewer service is not proposed to be stubbed into this property as part of the MeMenemy project. The City Administrator reported that the issue of annexation came up when Little Canada was comparing its level of assessments for this project with what Maplewood would be assessing. He noted that the Little Canada properties assessments are proposed at just over $8,000 for most of the properties, while most of the Maplewood properties would be assessed $4,000 to $4,500. The Administrator pointed out, however, that the Little Canada properties are larger; therefore, an assessment of these properties by Maplewood would likely be more than $4,500. The Administrator noted that from an equity standpoint, Little Canada would have to follow its assessment policy for these properties. The Administrator noted that there is also the issue that the City of Maplewood provides city services to these Little Canada properties, and he reviewed a listing of those services. He then reviewed a map of the project area, and pointed out that south of Highway 36, Little Canada does not have a street that it services. There are Little Canada properties abutting County Road B, however, this is a County road. Little Canada does have some water and sewer south of 36 and west of I -35, however. The City Administrator stated that the question is what is the most equitable arrangement. He noted that Little Canada collects its share of property taxes from these nine properties and does not reimburse the City 4