09-24-91 Special CCM - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

LAKE ELMO CITY COUNCIL MINUTES SEPTEMBER 24, 1991 3 Councilman Hunt: The current development we are looking at is at the corner of County Road 13 and 94. To physically run a pipe there and service that land is very easy but the size of the pipe has to be larger. This means the Council has to figure out a way of how to pay for that larger pipe. If you set up a plan that will call for those services and run those services out, you have to make sure all the piping is large enough to serve the total development when done. As a council we have to look into options: bonding, assessing, should we go 1/2 or 1/4 mile. Before I would vote in favor of running the pipe, I want to get feelings on how the landowners would feel about getting assessed. Martin Colon: If you put in the pipe to benefit me, I would pay a certain portion of that and accept an assessment on the property. It can't all happen for the benefit of one property owner. Dick Johnson: Is it conceivable where a large development comes in and requires the services, but the other landowners along that route do not want the service at that time, the developer pay for it. As other users are added to the line, the developer is reimbursed for that. I don't think the taxpayers of Lake Elmo want to foot the bill to get development. Martin Colon: I got into a situation where City of Mahtomedi wasn't providing the service so I got them from White Bear. It ran by a series of houses. I funded the entire project, but when the individual houses connected to the watermain I got the money thru an agreement with the city of White Bear. The mechanism is there. Bob Ungerman: It's fine for a developer to accept the costs because he can subdivide the land and sell it off in pieces. It is very tough for a business owner to absorb those costs and pass them on to the customer. It's not that we are not in favor of the extension, but you have to look at the developer versus an operating business. Mayor Johnson: Once the MUSA is in, it will be our concern as to how we can achieve our goals, which are not to insure premature assessment on non -union properties and not to give false hopes, but also to allow people who own property there achieve their goals of developing. Councilman Williams: (Addressing the operating businesses along the area) You said you are in favor of extending the sewer, but how do you pay for it. How can you do both?