01-11-1999 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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CITY of ORONO Municipal Offices Street Address: 2750 Kelley Parkway Orono. MN 55356 Mailing Address: P.O. Box 66 Crystal Bay, MN 55323 0066 Dr. W. Wyatt Moe 1230 Spruce Place Mound, MN 55364 Dear Dr. Moe: We are in receipt of your letter of December 7, 1998 requesting that the City pay a portion of the surveyor costs associated with your recent subdivision, variance and vacation applications. The amount you have requested that the City pay is $969.84, or approximately 1/3 of your surveyor bill. You have also requested a refund of the $300 application fee paid in June 1998 for the vacation of Portland Place, on the basis that this is a duplication of fees paid previously. Although a general sharing of the costs of your application may have been suggested by Jo Ellen Hurr in the early discussions with staff, the City never committed to anything. Staff did agree to charge only half the normal $300 application fee to vacate the right-of-way of "Lake" Street and the park area, and tliis is reflected in the $150 fee paid in July 1997 (see application fee breakdown, attached). The Coffin & Gronberg invoice you have submitted yields no clue as to the specific services provided by them. If they provided specific services that the City clearly should be responsible for, we will certainly give this fair consideration. We recognize that the ultimate result of your applications was a win-win for both you and the City. We do agree that the $300 fee for the vacation of Portland Place should be refimded, on the basis that the only reason this procedure was required was the City's incorrect vacation process 20 years ago. The City's philosophy has long been that private development should pay it's own way, at no cost to the general public. To that end, you should also be aware that tlie ; o date has incurred nearly $500 in legal fees in relation to your applications, which we have not billed back to you, but which certainly eat into the total of $1070 ($770 after refund) you paid in various application fees. The remaining $270 does not nearly cover all the City staff time involved in site visits, application review, drafting of memos, clerical work, hearing notices, etc. The City is also incumng significant City Engineer survey costs (estimated to be in the range of $500) in having a legal description drawn up for the sewer easement for existing municipal sewer lines in property that was public but is now Telephone (612) 473-7357 • FAX 4734)510