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Home My WebLink About07-30-1975 Council Minutes Special Meeting � . � CITY OF ORONO Special Meeting of the Orono Council, 4 : 00 P.M. July 30, 1975 � The Orono Council met on the ahove date with the following members present: Mayor Searles, Councilmembers Butler and Massengale. Councilmembers Paurus and Welsh absent. Also present were staff inembers Benson, Muhich, Malkerson and Long. � Mayor Searles noted that this special meeting was announced at the regularly scheduled Council meeting of July 28, 1975. It was � necessary to meet at this time because of conflicts of vacation and work schedules and because of the time contraints imposed upon the City by statute. ��yr�Long, consulting Engineer for the City, noted ASSESSMENTS - 73-1 that the assessment project included property owned by the City of Orono that was being used for a public park. He suggested that the City of Orono be assessed a front foot charge along . the road and one unit charge for the property in case a public sanitary toilet is ever installed on the property. He noted that the properties that were zoned for two-acre lots, were not included in the assessment district since they were not benefited by the sewer � line. It was noted by Mayor Searles that future Councils should be ��le to determine what the land use shall be �.�that the location of a • sewer line should not dictate land use policies. . Long stated that the proposed assessment roll is being developed according to the following principles: a) 100% assessment except for $108,000 which amount represents possible trunk and future units which may be created by future Council a action. , b) Lateral assessment based on 40o applied to front footage and 60% to building unit. � c) Trunk assessment to be based on $250 per acre. d) Each unit to pay $500 connection charge when hooking up to sewer. e) Large lots to be assessed all footage and � a number of integral units based on the nominal front footage per basic zoning unit. f) Lots not meeting minimum building requirements are assessed a fractional unit based on the number of lots required to create a reasonable sized building unit. ` . Special MEETING OF THE ORONO COUNCIL JULY 30, 1975 Page 2 g) Irregular or corner lots received front � footage assessment in pro rata share of the lot size versus nominal lot size. h) No lots in two acre zoning abutting sanitary sewer shall be assessed. The above guidelines used in preparing the proposed assessment roll except for (h) , are the past basic formula applied in previous Orono assessments for sanitary sewer and are similar to formula used in other communities. The dollar amounts shown in (c) and (d) vary with the nature and cost of each project. Item (h) is a variation to past Orono policy and applies in this case because the newly adopted zoning code and comprehensive plan states that sanitary sewer is not necessary in two acre zoning and therefore the property is not benefitted. Long noted that if those areas that were nearby ever did hookup to the sewer line, that those property owners would be assessed at that time. Long stated that if the a City included those two acre lots in the assess- ment area now, that there would be approximately an additional $75 ,000 collected. Searles noted that was part of the reason why the City would not allow those properties to hookup and would spread that amount against the general tax roll, was due to the mandates of the ��gg�g� comprehensive plan and zoning code. � Long stated that the basic Orono assessment policy has been to assess trunk sanitary sewer �osts on an area basis. In the case of sor.ie parcels served by laterals in project 73-1, this trunk cost was assessed in previous projects and is not assessed under this project. In cases where the property was not previously assessed, � it is assessed trunk costs under project 73-1. The trunk cost of $250 per acre is based on � the cost of the trunk sewer facilities serving the area such as lift stations, forcemains, pipe oversizing, etc. The City of Orono has always collected part of the sanitary sewer costs through a hookup charge which is common municipal practice. The $500 dollar amount was arrived at by updating earlier hookup charges to today' s costs. � � , t SPECIAL MEETING OF THE ORONO COUNCIL, JULY 30, 1975 Page 3 The policy of 400 of lateral assessment against footage and 60o against a basic building unit is for the purpose of equitability of assess- ment against various shaped lots. Past assess- i ments have proven that the 40o-60% split provides on the average the most equitable split. Long noted again that the sewer line in the Hackberry Hills area was oversized to provide for additional sewage capacity to other areas in the future. The cost of that oversize is � approximately $8,000 and therefore that amount would not be assessed against the properties. Searles noted that the original cost for the half-acre lot was based upon the sewering of almost all of the City of Orono. However, � the City Council in 1973 determined that it did not make economic sense to sewer almost all of :City of Orono and that to sewer almost all of the City of Orono would be contrary to ! the comprehensive plan and comprehensive zoning i ordinances then being considered and which were subsequently adopted. s Mayor Searles suggested that the City should , delete $100, 000 from the total cost of the project, and to levy taxes for that $100, 000 � and the $8,000 which represents the oversizing of the pipe. Benson noted that at the public hearing, the consulting engineer and other staff inembers , would have maps and other visual aids present to assist the people in understanding the boundaries of the areas proposed to be assessed. It was noted that the City has always in the past assessed the sewer projects to the extent of 100 percent of the construction cost. Mayor ` Searles noted that even though in the past we s have always assessed 100 percent of the project, that in this instance the City would levy $108,000 on the general tax roll which amounts could later be assessed against any new properties to which sewer may be extended many years in the future even though such an extension is not contemplated and would be contrary to the comprehensive zoning code and comprehensive land use plan adopted. � � , • � � SPECIAL MEETING OF THE ORONO COUNCIL, JULY 30 , 1975 Page 4 � Searles stated that there should be another SPECIAL MEETING DATE � special meeting to review the proposed roll again and the assessment policies to be � applied. Searles announced that this special meeting would be adjourned until 4:00 P.M. � on August 4, 1975 at the City Hall. Benson stated that he would notify the Maverick and • Lake Minnetonka Sun, which are the City' s legal . newspapers, that we would be continuing this special meeting August 4 , 1975. • � Butler moved, Searles seconded, that the ADJOURNMENT meeting be adjourned at 5: 40 P.M. Motion, � Ayes (3) - Nays (0) . � � _-1, � � � !�:��.��"� ��.-.�.� � Robert L. Searles, Mayor • � , � ' / , Attest: � �� -'J�'�--� � Walter R. B ns n, Clerk-Administrator � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �