4.4. SR 10-25-1993 - Laserfiche WebLink

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M~ NSULTING ENGINEERS e 13"25 EBerro' Park Drive 81. PJIIII, MN S51118-S2lt2 5It-5(H389 e Fin: 5It-544-9445 9SOO Shelard Parkway, Ste,llt2 Ilinneapolis, M~ 5SW-5151 "t-~5-fl.f32 Fax: 512-~4-li398 ITEM 4.4. October 21, 1993 File: 230-152-10 The Honorable Mayor and City Council City of Elk River 13065 Orono Parkway Elk River, MN 55330 RE: Sanitary Sewer/Water Trunk Assessment Policy Dear Council Members: As you are aware, Mr. Rick Foster has raised issues relative to the city's trunk sanitary sewer and water assessment policy. At the request of the City Administrator, I have prepared this correspondence to give my input on how the City has dealt with this issue in the past. In February 1992, a feasibility study was prepared to discuss the extension of utility service to the area Mr . Foster is concerned about. That report estimated trunk assessment rates in the neighborhood of $1000 to $ll00/acre and water assessment rates anywhere from $2500 to $5700/acre depending upon the improvements assessed. It would not be fair to base the estimated actual cost of trunk sanitary sewer and water improvements in this area on this fea'sibility study. Many things have changed relative to Elk Park Center since the date of this initial study. The only reasonable way to estimate the total cost of improvements in this district would be to wait until the Elk Park Center development plan is approved in preliminary form and a feasibility study dealing with all major issues is authorized. That study will indicate the cost of trunk sewer and water improvements through the Elk Park Center area and will also estimate any lateral benefit those trunk facilities will provide. The estimated cost together with portions of the February 1992 feasibility study estimate would need to be combined to give an accurate reflection of the total cost of trunk improvements, thereby allowing an actual assessment rate per acre to be calculated. I believe Mr. Foster's contention is that the City's assessment policy indicates that trunk sanitary sewer and water assessments will be on a service district basis. He further maintains that the service district that his Hillside Estates and Cherryhill Bluffs projects fall in would have a total trunk sanitary sewer and water assessment less than the $3800/acre that has been charged to the initial developments. I believe that Mr. Foster's interpretation of the written text in the City's assessment manual is correct. However, the question is, whether or not the policy the City has followed in recent trunk utility assessments is in line with the written text