Agenda Packets - 2002/05/06 - Laserfiche WebLink

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• Reduce engineering cost by eliminating the requirement to provide record plans of construction. A few years after the development was completed, the City started to plow these streets, although not required to. Staff was unable to ascertain why the City elected to do so. In 1992, the homeowners association sought to formalize this City practice for plowing the streets by drafting a maintenance agreement. In the original draft agreement, the City was to agree to snowplow, patch limited potholes, and seal coat. Homeowners agreed to be responsible for all long-term maintenance including: repaving, resurfacing, overlays, and major improvements. The draft agreement contained language that was more favorable to the City as a whole. It stated such things as: The City has “no legal responsibility to provide any services enumerated herein”, “Said services are being provided gratuitously”, “This agreement can be canceled by either party”, the City “is in no way bound in equity or at law to maintain said Outlot A”, and “The City expressly denies any legal responsibility to said property.” A final Maintenance Agreement was executed on May 24, 1993. This final version was drafted by the Association’s legal counsel. Attached is a copy. What began as a document to memorialize the City’s good will practice, which was “provided gratuitously” turned into a document that stripped the City of rights it originally had and made these services an obligation to all taxpayers of the City. Staff wants to make this point clear to the Council. It is, however, a mute point since the Homeowners Association’s legal counsel drafted the agreement in such a mannor as to make it impossible for the City to rescind the agreement on its own. The 1993 Agreement did not discuss maintenance utilities such as watermain, sanitary sewer, or storm sewer. In 1999, several storm sewer catch basins were in need of repair. This was the genesis for discussions of maintenance responsibilities for the utilities associated with the Silver Lake Woods Development. These have been discussed and disputed for the past three years. Staff and the Homeowners Association seek resolution of this issue. City Private Street Policy At this point, Council has yet to make a formal resolution on this matter. The only document of record is the 1993 Maintenance Agreement. Staff would like to point out that this is not a unique situation Mounds View faces. Nearly every metropolitan City has dealt with or will need to deal with the issue of private streets. To address the request by the Silver Lake Woods Condominium Association and similar requests in the future, staff recommends that the City develop a private street policy which addresses the maintenance of such streets.