06-18-2007 CC MIN - Laserfiche WebLink

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. . . City Council Minutes June 18,2007 Page 15 Mayor Klinzing stated the townhomes would need to lobby to their legislators to have the taxes changed. Jerry Olson, 18264 Kent Street (Country Crossing)-Stated he appreciated Mr. Hals and Ms. Johnson's explanation of private roads and the costs associated with maintaining them. He stated the townhome associations are looking at the same costs to do the work themselves. He questioned if the city is still doing private roads for townhomes. Ms. Johnson stated the ordinance and its requirements have changed. She stated the private drives are much shorter and the developer is required to pay for the city street to come to the private drives. Mr. Olson stated the mill rates for the townhomes are the same as single-family residential lots and feels they should be differentiated. Mr. Beck stated the ordinance changes were made in order to balance the issues with private roads that have developed over the years against the desire to make townhome projects affordable to residents. He stated private roads make townhomes more affordable and help to lower the value of the properties. Ms. Johnson stated the mill rate, which is now the tax rate, may be the same as a single- family residential home but the class rates are lower so the land and building taxable value is less than a single-family home. She stated questions with value should be directed to the county assessor. Mayor Klinzing stated the assessor looks at townhomes differently because they are on smaller lots without public improvements and have less of a setback. She stated the value of the land is less then single-family home developments. She stated the city looks at the private roads to be driveways and therefore does not require connections for through traffic to get to other developments, which is a benefit to the townhome owner. Councilmember Zerwas stated if some of the private roads were taken over by the city, the residents will still have the individual drives going to their garages that would need to be contracted out and maintained. He stated it would not be enough to provide relief to association fees. He stated the city will assess the residents for road improvements. He stated he didn't feel the townheme residents would come out ahead if the city took over the roads. He stated there would be no guarantee the townhome residents would get plowed out right away. He stated they would be a lower priority whereas now the association can hire/ fire a contractor. Bill Sarranen (Trout Brook)-(Came late to this discussion)-Stated he feels the city should snowplow the private roads. He stated there is no problem with the heavy garbage trucks using the private roads so why couldn't the snowplows use them. He stated the mill rate for townhomes is the same as for a single family home. He stated he is willing to work with the city to negotiate some kind of deal. Mill rates versus class rates were explained. Ms. Johnson stated signage will be installed letting everyone know which streets are private. Mayor Klinzing stated the city shouldn't begin to maintain private roads in the city. She stated the city would need to justify the cost to the rest of the taxpayers. She stated it would