02/10/2003 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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COUNCIL MINUTES FEBRUARY 10, 2003 APPROVED 1 Councilmember O'Donnell asked what the City would do to remove the road, and what that would 2 cost. 3 4 Councilmember Reinert indicated that to prevent use of the road it would have to be made into an 5 unusable road, at the owner's expense. He stated this was an engineering question, and asked what 6 the options would be, and how realistic to implement. 7 8 City Engineer Studenski stated that an earth berm, or barricade would need to be erected to abandon. 9 He indicated the City has this situation elsewhere. He added with the construction of the driveway 10 next to it, you could have some people trying to use that for access, but they would be crossing 11 private property to get there. He indicated this could be done. 12 13 Councilmember Carlson clarified this would be a dirt road, not paved. She stated her only concern 14 about building the driveway to the east is that is where the trees are, but if there is a public safety 15 concern, in order to provide Mr. Racutt access to drive in, there may not be another option. She 16 stated when she makes these decisions, she looks at the Staff recommendation, which is now different 17 than when it went to the Planning and Zoning Board. She added she has looked at the Planning and 18 Zoning recommendation and the minutes from the November 21 work session with the City Council, 19 and if there is good reason to do this differently from what Staff said, she is ready to move, but she 20 does not see good reason to do it differently. She stated that it appears with a decision they can 21 resolve the legal issues and should. 22 23 City Planner Smyser demonstrated a driveway sketch for the Council, indicating it would be a 1,200- •24 foot berm, or further, to prevent the use of this strip of land. He stated it would be an expensive 25 undertaking, and asked if the City would pay for it. He stated the applicant would have to pay for all 26 the dirt that would need to be brought in for the driveway, just to service a house back there, adding 27 then they have to keep people off the old road. He reiterated this is an isolated area and he is 28 concerned about what will happen. He stated Mr. Racutt rejected this originally. He mentioned there 29 have been several police calls back there, and the area is just plain scary. He indicated he is not 30 happy about creating access to an isolated area. 31 32 Councilmember O'Donnell asked where the new driveway to Main Street was on the neighbor's 33 property in relation to this. City Planner Smyser stated he did not know. He stated this was another 34 concern, having two driveways out to Main Street, if in the future they connect Rondo, they would be 35 very close to that intersection. He feels that is too much happening traffic -wise in a short distance. 36 37 Mayor Bergeson indicated there was a motion on the floor to deal with. He stated he believes 38 Council should refer this back to Planning and Zoning, based on the new information from staff and 39 the issues of the right-of-way, and have it go back through the process. He indicated it did not come 40 to City Council in a formal way, it came at an informal work session long ago. 41 42 Councilmember Reinert agreed, saying there seems to be unknown information needed to make a 43 decision, such as who pays, how much would it be to create an unusual solution to this problem. He 44 indicated if he had to vote tonight, he would deny, but he supports Mayor Bergeson's 45 recommendation to send it back to the Planning and Zoning Board. 46 •47 Councilmember O'Donnell indicated it appears there is a workable solution, but not all the answers 48 are available tonight. He agrees with the Mayor, and withdraws his second. 11