10-27-1997 CC - Laserfiche WebLink

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Mike,Bruce and I have also met to assess the assessment policy/street improvements/funding abilities of the City, particularly in regards to Spring Lake Road which will be before the Council in full in November. I have a very hard time looking at these issues without attempting to weigh the cost/benefits of construction options, the design options apparently favored by Spring Lake Road residents and the financing problems faced by the City. I think the Council and staff will need to follow-up with this last work session on this subject and attempt to determine a course of action that does not require the Council and staff to reinvent the wheel every time a street project comes up. This will likely mean injecting more design options available to the residents affected and restructuring the assessment ratios. Doing that however cannot be removed from budgetary considerations, since those options will likely lead to increases in the City's share of project costs. We are attempting to put this into some comprehensive format so the Council and community can understand the impacts of changes to any of the variables involved in these decisions. One aspect of this discussion that I think the Council needs to consider and remember is that the community at large is not represented by anyone other than Council, staff and existing policy during discussions with Spring Lake Road residents. In other words, this is a zero sum equation and changes to the assessment policies, funding mechanisms and design standards are balanced between immediately impacted property owners and indirectly taxed but not directly impacted general community. As stated Monday evening, staff will assist in any changes to any of the policies involved, but remains in a position of appearing to defend the status quo until directed to do otherwise. The overall objective needs to be determined, is it to improve streets, keep costs down and/or meet the desires of the residents directly impacted. Naturally a balance needs to be struck, but right now it is difficult to determine what the desired balance is or whether it is even understood to be a balance between • interests and limited resources. Perhaps some additional discussion after the November 5 canvassing meeting can assist in this.