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MINUTES OF THE <br />ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING <br />Monday, April 9, 2018 <br />7:00 o'clock p.m. <br />21. CONSIDERATION OF PETITION CONCERNING A PORTION OF BRACKETTS <br />POINT ROAD — Continued <br />Dankey asked if the existing road would be ripped up. <br />City Administrator Rief indicated the existing road would be relocated and the new road would be <br />completed by the developer. Upon completion of the new road, the road will go straight rather than curve <br />to the left and the only access for turnaround would be on the private road section. <br />Walsh stated the discussion about private roads has come up a lot in the past and that he personally has no <br />problem taking back any privately -owned road as long as it is up to City standards. Walsh stated the City <br />will need to look at what the useful life of the road is since it is 10 years old as well as the costs associated <br />with improving it. <br />Crosby noted the other part of the public road is not up to city standards. <br />Barnhart illustrated the portion of the road that would be removed. Barnhart noted that portion of the <br />public roadway is currently 21 feet wide and will be widened to 28 feet. <br />Dankey asked where the snowplows would turn around. <br />Barnhart indicated a cul-de-sac will be constructed. <br />Seals noted the City has 97 other private roads and questioned whether this would be opening Pandora's <br />Box. Seals asked what the benefit would be to the City to take over ownership of the private portion. <br />Walsh stated it comes down to a cost issue. Walsh noted the residents are paying taxes and that he is <br />willing to take back any private road as long as the costs to improve the road are taken into consideration. <br />Crosby noted the residents were told in the past that a private road is a luxury. Crosby asked if there is a <br />benefit taxation -wise to someone who lives on a private road. Crosby concurred the City has to look at it <br />from an economic perspective and that the road will have X amount of cost to the City in the future. <br />Crosby stated if they do it for one group of residents, there could be a number of others that would request <br />the same thing. <br />Dankey commented there are a number of private roads that have more houses on them than this road. <br />Printup stated the bottom line is, when the private roads came into being, the idea was to help keep taxes <br />lower. <br />Crosby asked whether the people on private roads pay less in taxes than someone who lives on a public <br />road. <br />Printup asked whether the amount of private roads versus public roads is approximately 50 percent. <br />City Administrator Rief stated they are all paying the same rate and that the City has 19 miles of private <br />roads. <br />Page 10 of 16 <br />