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Funding for these requests is not provided for by general property taxes. Nor does the <br />general fund include budgeted expenditures for this type of request. <br />For these types of requests City staff time and consultant time is charged to the escrow <br />account. In this specific case staff time was limited to 3.5 hours of research, report <br />preparation and approval correspondence. Staff did not bill time for telephone <br />conversations or meetings with the applicant, staff conversations with City Attorney or <br />the preliminary application review and advisory letter. City staff billings are charged at 2 <br />times the hourly rate to cover benefits and overhead. Consultant time is billed as <br />charged. <br />The City Attorney's time is itemized on the attached billing and was reviewed and <br />approved by staff. The attorney's time charged to the escrow included review of the <br />easements and covenants, discussion with staff and review of ordinance requirements, <br />drafting recommended changes to the covenants and follow up discussion with staff <br />regarding modified language submitted by the applicant. The council should recall that <br />the zoning ordinance amendment approved to allow the DeHaven's to process the minor <br />subdivision request required submittal of restrictive covenants with specific requirements. <br />These requirements were not satisfied with the original submittal by the DeHaven's, <br />which was noted by the city attorney. As you are aware the attorney's responsibility in <br />these matters is to protect the interests of the City of Lino Lakes. Subsequently the <br />attorney drafted language to insert into the declaration to satisfy city requirements. <br />Based on these facts staff does not see any legitimate reason for reimbursement to Mr. <br />DeHaven. <br />Additionally, Mr. DeHaven informed the council that he was told by an Anoka County <br />representative that he did not need the City's approval when recording his documents. <br />Based on the information received from Anoka County this is correct. Mr. DeHaven <br />submitted for recording an easement and declaration of covenants encumbering his <br />property. No city approval is necessary for a property owner to encumber their property <br />if they so choose. <br />However, Mr. DeHaven's request before the City was the subdivision of land. As the <br />subdivision authority the City does need to approve any subdivision of property within <br />the municipal boundaries. Anoka County is aware of this requirement. As further <br />clarification to this point — the Anoka County Department of Property Records and <br />Taxation "Glossary of Terms" available from their website includes the following <br />information regarding "Divisions ": <br />"Divisions. Landowners can sub - divide their property into as many parcels of <br />land the city will allow. This can only be done providing the City in which the <br />land is located approves it, and is done without the formal process of platting. " <br />However, no land division request was submitted to Anoka County. I personally shared <br />this concern with Mr. DeHaven two weeks before his presentation to the council and <br />J: \correspondence \City Council\houle escrow.doc <br />• <br />• <br />