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March 31,2010 �c�°�� �;i�,� 0 5 zo�o - City Council of Orono c��'�OFp�01Vp City of�rono 2750 f<elley Parkway Orono, MN 55356 RE: 3415 CRYSTAL BAY ROAD/DOCK RIGHTS Dear Members of the Council: f am wrifiing to follow up on our letter of�ctober 27,2008. At that time we were trying to sell our house as I had fost my job of ZS years-and I still remain unemployed, We had several bvyers who were gaing 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 rnaintaining its core value given the lack of resolution of the dock rights. Our house at that time was valued 2t$784,000. We have watched the vafue drop today to$547,00O...and we know we cannot evert attempt to sell this property until the dock rights issue is solidified. l sPake again with the City Administrator last year about this issue and he suggested that I check locaf libraries,etc.to see if there were any issues of neighborhood newslettersf newspapers from 1934— which is the year when the City af Orono received the iakeshore for aur home (and three others)on a "quit deed". I did check and found no records. Perha_ps 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 faur cab'sns he built were no longer in the family and the easiest action was taken. We'!I 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�as 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 important{y,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 rnore for our house than the list price of either of those two homes and they both have deeded access..,and they were comparabie 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 sofd over the years with dodc access and prices reflecting such (with the recent exception of 3445 Crystal Bay Road—as explained to me by the Ciry Administrator). We have also invested in our home based on the assessed �alue. The seller's disclosure statement at the time we purchased our home stated that access was "technicalfy deeded." That has been the understanding since there is no other feasible use for this land. We�vould 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 nathing for it,we are taxed on it,we uti(ize 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.