11-09-1998 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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o o \ ..V >« November 3, 1998 COUNCIL f/i£TiK3 |slOV 9 CITY of ORONO Municipal OfTices r.nr.^' 3 Street Address: 2750 Kelley Parkway Orono. MN 55356 Mailing Address: P.O. Box 66 Crystal Bay. MN 55323-0066 Dear Orono Orchards Sewer Project Area Residents: A public hearing was held for this project on September 28th, and the City Council ordered the preparation of plans and specifications for this project. The proposed schedule is to bid the project this winter. After the bid opening the assessment hearing will be held. Pending a successful assessment hearing a construction contract will be awarded with construction planned for ne.xt summer. The estimated per unit assessment presented at the public hearing was S23,690 per unit. Installation of sanitary' sewer in Orono is e.xpensive because of the relatively low density resulting in less houses per feet of sewer pipe installed. The City policy for the last thirty years, has been to assess 100% of the sewer costs to the benefiting property owners. This process has resulted in assessment appeals because of the high costs for installation of sewer. Assessment appeals can result in substantial legal and administrative costs. In order to reduce the potential for assessment appeals, several years ago the City's assessment policy was changed for "mandated" sewer projects. This is a mandated project because of the number of non-compliant and failing septic systems and the smaller lot sizes without adequate septic sites available. The City makes a distinction between "mandated" and "voluntary" sewer projects. According to State Statues Chapter 429, assessments for public improvement projects can not exceed the benefit provided by the project. The current City assessment policy for mandated sewer projects is to base project assessments on the benefit received from installation of sanitary sewer. For voluntary sewer projects the property owners must agree to assessment of 100% of the project costs. The City has determined that the assessment for the Orono Orchards Sanitary Sewer project will be S16,000 per residential unit. This assessment is based on the following determination of benefits provided by installation of sanitary sewer. Benefit from not having to install a new mound system. Benefit of having the lot area that would be used for a septic system available for other uses such as swimming pools, house additions, garages etc. A new mound system requires both Telephone (612) 473-7357 • FAX 473-0510