11-24-1997 CC - Laserfiche WebLink

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• Memo To: Honorable Mayor and City Council From: Chuck Whiting, City Administrator Re: November 24, 1997 City Council Meeting Date: November 21, 1997 Unfortunately again, I do not have a great deal of time to devote to a packet memo. Monday's meeting will include the swearing in of Sherry Gunn. Best of luck to you Sherry and welcome to the City Council. Item Fl - Spring Lake Road: The main event for Monday evening will be the public hearing regarding Spring Lake Road. I voiced some concern at the November 3 work session about Council direction for this meeting and can only suggest that a contrite dialogue be established with the residents. This possible project has brought many different issues to bare for one street project. There are engineering questions, ability to pay questions, investment of city resource questions, environmental questions, traffic questions, property value questions and public representation questions. There will be no one right answer to a project on Spring Lake Road, only what can be decided and why. I would ask Council members to keep an objective eye and a open ear to the • proceedings. Each question and concern expressed, whether it be by residents or staff, has a flip side which will cost someone something. The City policies have been in place and project calculations for assessments and engineering have been based on those policies. As was discussed November 3, while general displeasure has been mentioned with those policies, Council direction for alternatives have been unclear. Mike has drafted resolution options in anticipation of possible policy changes. Currently policies favor a 50/50 split on costs with residents, engineering criteria that values coordinated drainage and longer term investment value, and an overall interest in maintaining a quality road system within the City's boundaries. These of course are subjective reasons for the policies and while they can be changed, the larger reasons for changing them and the impacts of those changes have not been considered by this Council. Staff will attempt to address those possible issues should they arise on Monday evening. In general, the Council may want to think about these issues as they come up: A. Changing engineering criteria to no curb will generally mean shorting the life of the road and increasing its maintenance -What is fair to both the residents on Spring Lake Road and the other City taxpayers for paying for that shift in policy B. Lowering assessment portions shifts more street cost to • other City taxpayers - What engineering criteria should then be used if the City is to pay for more of this project, in other words, what is a good investment