11-29-2007 Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Charter Commission November 29, 2007 Page 5 APPROVED ^178 Commissioner Trehus asked whether using "recommended" public improvement gives the City a 179 chance to put their slant on what is being petitioned for. 180 Ms. Marty replied it does not. She added if a petition is for certain improvements, the feasibility 181 study will need to cover those, e.g., if the petition wants a road from Point A to Point B, staff 182 may say the road should go to Point C; it is expected that staff may modify the improvements 183 requested in the petition because staff will have information on some of the details of what is 184 needed and what is not needed that quite often a neighborhood won't have. 185 186 Commissioner Trehus stated the wishes of the citizens may be tweaked by staff and asked how 187 much they can be tweaked. 188 189 Ms. Marty replied once the staff work is done, the citizens get control again after that. 190 191 Commissioner Trehus stated the option that was petitioned for is no longer under consideration if 192 it has been changed into something else by the City and now the citizens would have to stop it. 193 194 Ms. Marty stated it is important to remember this is not about writing regulations and the Charter 195 document represents a policy statement, not a detailed operating manual on how to do things or 196 what to include in a feasibility study. 197 198 Commissioner Trehus asked whether state law requires that notice be sent to property owners .-199 that a feasibility study is being conducted. 200 201 Ms. Marty replied there is no requirement in state law; however, the City must send notice 202 whenever there is a public hearing on whether to order the work. She added the City Council can 203 order a feasibility study on anything at any time. 204 205 Commissioner Bening stated there are minimum standards that the City must adhere to with 206 respect to the roads. 207 208 Commissioner Storberg asked how this section will apply to storm water drainage and the 209 question of how improvements to the storm water facilities are assessed. 210 211 Ms. Marty replied the only way this relates to that is if you are paying a special assessment for 212 storm water management; the assessment has to be done under these procedures and it is capped 213 at the benefit you receive. She added any fees the City might impose for water running off land 214 would not be covered by the Charter. 215 216 Commissioner Trehus stated in subd. 2, one of the alternatives is to do only the street and asked 217 for clarification of this section. 218 219 Ms. Marty replied a court would go further back in the provision to find guidance; when one of 220 the alternatives includes just the street, it would not have curb, gutter, lights, etc. ^221 5