05-13-2019 Council Work Session Packet

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March 31, 2010 RECEIVED APR 05 2010 City Council of Orono G17y.0F0a0N0 City of Orono 2750 Kelley Parkway Orono, MN 55356 RE: 3415 CRYSTAL BAY ROAD / DOCK RIGHTS .Bear Members of the Council: I am writing to follow up on our letter of October 27, 2008. At that time we were trying to sell our house as i had lost my job of 28 years - and I still remain unemployed. We had several buyers who were going to come in with offers — but they all decided it was too risky after they further explored the dock rights issue with the city. Given the market, then and now, buyers were too fearful of the -house maintaining its core value given the lack of resolution of the dock rights. Our house at that time was valued at $784,000. We have watched the value drop today to $647,000 ... and we know we cannot even attempt to sell this property until the dock rights issue is solidified. I spoke again with the City Administrator last year about this issue and he suggested that I check local libraries, etc. to see if there were any issues of neighborhood newsletters/newspapers from 1934— which is the year when the City of Orono received the lakeshore for our home (and three others) on a "quit deed". I did check and found no records. Perhaps that is the year in which the farmer who lived up above and who built these properties passed on; perhaps there were issues with the estate or perhaps the four cabins he built were no longer in the family and the easiest action was taken. We'll likely never know the answer to this question. However, the important point is that it is now 2010 and there is no other viable use of this Lakeshore in front of our home other than how it has been utilized for many years —for the homeowner. We have maintained it, we have had a dock (as have prior owners), and we are taxed on it. More importantly, we have paid for it via the purchase of our home. There were two other houses on this street for sale when we purchased this home in October of 1999 (3235 and 3393 Crystal Bay Road) and we paid more for our house than the list price of either of those two homes and they both have deeded access ... and they were comparable homes to ours. Similarly, the house next to us (3407) sold a couple of years ago with an assessed value and sale price that reflected lake rights. These houses have sold over the years with dock access and prices reflecting such (with the recent exception of 3445 Crystal Bay Road — as explained to me by the City Administrator). We have also invested in our home based on the assessed value. The seller's disclosure statement at the time we purchased our home stated that access was "technically deeded." That has been the understanding since there is no other feasible use for this land. We would like to once again respectfully request that the small piece of Lakeshore in front of our home be deeded to us. The City of Orono paid nothing for it, we are taxed on it, we utilize it and maintain it and we feel we have paid for it. But we cannot even consider selling our home unless dock rights can be determined.