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HomeMy WebLinkAbout8B - Maple Hills Homeowners AGENDA #: PREPARED BY: SUBJECT: 8B JOHN WINGARD, ASSISTANT CITY ENGINEER CONSIDER APPROVAL OF REQUEST BY MAPLE HILL HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION TO INSTALL MUNICIPAL SEWER WITHIN THEIR SUBDIVISION WITHOUT MUNICIPAL WATER AUGUST 5, 1996 DATE: INTRODUCTION: The purpose of this Agenda item is to consider approval of a request by the Maple Hill Homeowners Association to install municipal sanitary sewer within their subdivision without municipal water. The Maple Hill Addition is a nine lot subdivision located east of Pike Lake Trail and approximately 700 feet south of CSAH 42 as shown on the attached map. Attached is a letter dated June 6, 1996, and another letter dated July 15, 1996, from the Maple Hill Homes Association that describes their request to install sanitary sewer. BACKGROUND: The Maple Hill development is a heavily wooded area with 9 large lots. The area was platted in 1973. The attached plat dedicated 50 feet of drainage and utility easements over the area of the private streets that serve the nine lots. Six of the nine lots have houses on the lots and three are vacant. The six houses are currently served with private well and septic systems. The internal street system is a gravel road that is privately maintained. At the June 21, 1993, City Council Meeting, the Council authorized the extension of sanitary sewer along Pike Lake Trail from CSAH 42 to the south property line of the Holy Cross Lutheran Church. This sewer project provided an 8 inch line on Pike Lake Trail that served the church property and extended the line to the north property line of Maple Hill. The agreement that the City entered into with the church for the sanitary sewer extension did not require a water connection to the City's system. DISCUSSION: The Maple Hill Homes Association has prepared plans and specifications to construct 1647 feet of 8 inch sanitary sewer to serve their subdivision. The plans have been prepared by a MAPLEHIL,DOC 1.. 16200 Eagle Creek Ave. S.E., Prior Lake, Minnesota 55312-1714 / Ph. (612) 447-4230 / Fax (612) 447-4245 AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER Registered Professional Engineer and have been submitted to the City for review. If the Council feels it would be appropriate to allow construction of sanitary sewer to serve Maple Hill, then the City will review the plans. When approved plans have been accepted by the City, a Development Contract would be prepared to allow the Maple Hill Homes Association to construct a municipal sewer system. The contract would also describe the fees and area charges that would need to be paid before the project could begin. The City Attorney has reviewed the Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws of Maple Hill Homes Association. Attached is a copy of their letter that describes their review comments. City staff reviewed the ordinances to see if the construction of sanitary sewer is allowed without the construction of a water system. We did not find anything that addresses this subject. Ordinance 9-5-4 does require that property served by sanitary sewer is required to connect within one year. The Maple Hill area is making the request to connect to City sewer. A public water system is not available to this area now. The Holy Cross Church and the existing houses in this area are served with private well systems. The upgrading of CSAH 42 is intending to extend a 16 inch trunk watermain from the existing system at Ferndale Avenue to Pike Lake Trail. The construction of the watermain in CSAH 42 is expected to be completed in 1998. The timing of the extension of a water line along Pike Lake Trail from CSAH 42 to the existing 8 inch watermain in Carriage Hills Parkway is dependent on the development of Knob Hill and the Wensmann property. The construction of the 8 inch watermain in Pike Lake Trail is expected to be completed in 1997 if houses sell well in the Knob Hill development. ISSUES: The Maple Hill request raises numerous issues for the City Council to consider in making its decision. They are: * Precedence - The City has already allowed Holy Cross Lutheran Church to hook up to sewer only with no requirement for water hook-up since it is unavailable. The Council could consider Maple Hill to be a different situation since there are presently six lots that are affected with three more to be developed, whereas the church involves only one building on one lot. MAPLEHIL.DOC 2 MAPLEHIL,DQC * Overall Objective - Over time it is likely that the entire community with the possible exception of Titus Addition and the Howard Lake area will receive sewer, water and street improvements. If the objective is to minimize non-serviced areas then granting the Maple Hill request could be seen as contrary to that objective. * Timin~ - From a timing perspective the issue is whether sewer is done in 1997 or 1998 either as a private development or as a public improvement project. The actual project bringing water and sewer to this area could be any time after water is available either as a Capital Improvement Project or as a project petitioned by the residents of the area. * Special Benefit - A general rule of thumb is that greater economy and special benefit for special assessment purposes can be sustained if the project is done as one versus in two or three phases. The investment in staff time, public inconvenience, etc. are also minimized If the Council elects to allow the Maple Hill area to construct the sanitary sewer system without a water system or without upgrading the street system, then it may be more difficult to convince the Maple Hill residents of the water and street upgrades in the future. It is likely that this area would remain as 9 lots served by private wells and private streets. * Loss of Trees - Less trees are lost if the project is done as requested by the homeowners but only if the assumption is also made that the street will always be private and substandard from a width perspective. * Private vs. Public Streets - Private streets in new subdivisions are now allowed only in PUDs. The Council has taken this position because of a desire to standardize streets for public safety purposes and to avoid future requests by residents to have the City assume maintenance responsibility for their public street. * Ultimate Impact - The Council must balance the ultimate impact of this action. Approval of the proposal will at least bring sewer to the site now. Denial could delay all utilities for a long time. 3 There are a few additional points the Council should consider. The parcels with sewer, water and streets could be divided into as many as eighteen parcels. Presumably the Council could control whether such subdivision takes place by making it contingent upon the installation of water and streets. Finally, there are operational questions raised by this request including: 1) How is sewer flow determined? and 2) How does the City enforce non payment of utility fees? FINANCIAL IMPACT: The sewer project will be paid for entirely by the Maple Hill Homes Association. They intend to hire their own contractor to construct the sewer line. The Maple Hill Homes Association will be required to pay the trunk sewer area charge of $1750 per acre, 6% City review/administration fee, City inspection fees which typically cost around 5%, and the sewer hook-up fees. Without a water connection and water meter, the City will not be able to accurately estimate the sewer flow. The City will need to estimate the sewer flow for the houses that hook-up to City sewer for the bimonthly billings. The Finance Department would assume a flat rate based on other accounts in the City. ALTERNATIVES: The alternatives are as follows: 1. Approve the request for sanitary sewer, require extension of city water and require upgrading of streets to a public standard for the Maple Hill area with the sewer project. The water system would be a dry line until city water is extended to the area. 2. Approve the request for sanitary sewer only. 3. Table this Agenda item for a specific reason. 4. Deny the request for sanitary sewer extension and recommend the applicant apply again when city water is available to the area. RECOMMENDATION: The recommendation is Alternative No.1. The City Council should provide the s and homeowners direction regarding how to p?jeed fJ' thi j4uest, if at all. ~W ' REVIEWE BY: MAPLEHIL.DOC 4 MAPLE HILL HOMES ASSOCIATION 14243 Mitoka Circle N.E. Prior Lake, MN 55372 June 6, 1996 Frank Boyles City Manager City of Prior Lake 16200 Eagle Creek Ave. Prior Lake, MN 55372-1714 /) :, l~ U~~cf$) ~ RE: Maple Hill San i tary Sewer Dear Sir: This letter comes to you as suggested by John win1ard in a conversation we had Monday morning. The subject being addressed is the desire of the majority of the homeowners in the Maple Hill subdivision to install sanitary sewer only to serve the nine lots in the subdivision. At the suggestion of Larry Anderson that at the time the Knob Hill and Wensman proposed developments were being considered, a petition was prepared and presented requesting the City of Prior Lake to install only sanitary sewer, after the City sewer was extended in Pike Lake Trail to service the Knob Hill plat and the Wensman Homes property located west of Pike Lake Trail. Subsequent to presenting our petition, I was informed that the City policy requires water main installation, as well as sanitary sewer. Because the homeowners want to preserve as much existing timber as possible, and continue with our private road for ingress and egress, we feel we can better preserve our wooded environment more or less as it is by installing sewer only. Simply because City policy is not flexible enough to allow bui Iding sewer only as a City project, I'm considering building sewer into the subdivision as a private . project. Preliminary sanitary sewer plans prepared by Nyhus Engineering were submitted for consideration, along with m~~r to Larry Anderson dated May 12, 1995. The sewer is a simple minimum construction which could be done with very I ittle damage to the timber in the subdivision. We have three vacant lots -in the subdivision. Tony Robling, owner of Lot 2, has recently sold the lot to a young couple, anticipating construction of a home later this summer. Because of soil conditions and septic system design criteria, a mound system would be required for on-site sewage treatment. The other two vacant lots are mine. I would like to sell my lots for home development but I am also waiting to get sanitary sewer available. With sewer available, it seems to make sense and be practical to build the sewer instead of more septic systems at this time. It is my understanding that to build a mound system, you would expend approximately $8,000. According to an engineer's estimate, we can build a sanitary sewer for approximately $10,000 a lot, which seems to be a more economical way to go. A big factor in building mound septic systems is that large amounts of ouf natural timber would be destroyed. At this time, water main is not available in Pike Lake Trail; however, the sanitary sewer is in place at the northwest corner of the subdivision. Sanitary sewer can be built now. The building of water main can be done as a separate project at a later time. Also with the three lots needing to proceed with construction, it seems to me to make economic sense that the cost of three water wells at approximately $5,000 each is a better way to go than bui lding a $50,000 water system at this time, or trying to delay construction for lack of sanitary sewer. tt seems to me this project should be considered similar to the church that was bui It just north of our subdivision a few years ago. There the City would not allow them to build without sanitary sewer and it subsequently was built, and they have their private well for water supply. After receipt of this letter, I request that a meeting be held between yourself, myself and possibly other Homeowners Association members. As you can see from the time table that we outlined here this project has been, in my estimation, unnecessarily delayed for much too long. Please call me as soon as possible to schedule a meeting for further discussion of this matter. ~cP~ James E. Boerhave, R .L.S. President of the Homeowners Association c.c. Larry Lundmark and Linda Hanning Don and Marluis Huwe Jim and Phyllis Kramer Rick and Jeanette Weidner Dave and Nancy Triebel Tony Robling MAPLE HILL HOMES ASSOCIATION 14243 Mitoka Circle N.E. Prior Lake, MN 55372 July 15, 1996 Frank Boyles City manager City of Prior Lake 16200 Eagle Creek Ave. Prior Lake, MN 55372-1714 RE: Maple Hill Sanitary Sewer Dear Sir: This letter comes to you at the suggestion of John Wingard in a conversation we had last Friday, July 11th. This letter is also a follow-up of my letter dated June 6, 1996. In subsequent conversations with John Wingard, it evolved that I didn't make it clear in my June 6th letter that the project we are proposing for sanitary sewer construction would be under the control of the Maple Hi lis Homes Association. John has requested that I forward to you folks, for your use, a copy of the Maple Hill Homes Association Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws to demonstrate that the City is deal ing with a corporation that is responsible for these kinds of things, and that the City will be dealing with the corporation rather than individual property owners. Since the brief discussion we had of the project at the Counci I forum on June 17, 1996, I have met with the Mayor, Lee Andren, Tom Kedrowsk i and vVesley Mader at the site to discuss the pros and cons of the project. I also had a lengthy conversation with Peter Schenck; that leaves only Councilman Allan Greenfield for me to personally discuss the project. I have a call in to Counci Iman Greenfield, however, I have not received a return call to date. It is my understanding the the City Attorney is work ing on this, and wi II be considering the Corporation Articles and Bylaws to determine the direction to proceed to a developer's agreement for this project. I would like to suggest that either you or the City Attorney contact me as soon as possible, after receipt and review of the Articles and Bylaws. Sincerely, ~~e, RLS President of the Maple Hills Homes Association c.c. 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' s'" I I .-."a3.7... ~~~ o~~ ~~ ~ ~ < ~ ~ ~ < ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 0CSfUI1" A CARRIAGE HI S PARKWAY ..0 OUTLOT o~ ~ ..oaUIT .....1.111I. ,.. .1a3 _.. "'1"..50.. .OU.T T..SS ZUZIO (; ~/ oc.m.oor' c:. PROPOSED SANITARY SEWER --- EXISTING SANITARY SEWER ~ NORTH 'Z.. 0-<" " 07/26/96 FRI 09:37 FAX 612 452 5550 C K S & F IaJ 002 CAMPBELL, KNUTSON, SCOTT & FUCHS, P.A. Ar.rorney~ at Law Thnlrms.l, Campbell RUJ:~r N. K nllrlil lI'l 'f11l1m:ls M. SC'CllL G}lry O. rlld-1N jlllllt:S R. Wlllsrun Ellhlrt R Knersd'l Sll~lmn Leil Pil~~ (612) 452-.5000 Fax (612) 452-5550 July 25, 1996 AnJn:i\ Md~'\Vdl r\ll:hl\:r Matrhcw K. Brukl J.,hn F. Kc.'lIy Mill'gllC:rile M. M(Ctlrmn ( Ic:"llrl!l..' T. StL'plwnsll11 Mr. John Wingard City of Prior Lake 16200 Eagle Creek Avenue SE Prior Lake, MN 55372-1714 YIA FACSIMILE Re: Maple Bill Sanitary Sewer Project Our File No. 3693/056 Dear 10hn: If the Council decides to extend sanitary sewer to service the subdivision, we would then prepare a development contract between the City and the Maple Hill Homes Association for subsequent consideration by the Council. The development contract would include adequate fmancial guarantees to insure completion of the project and cash escrow deposits to cover the City's administrative and engineering costs. Please call if you have any questions. Best regards, CAMPBELL, KNUTSON, SCOTT & FUCHS, P.A. __. ~~ ^~-tt- Thomas M. Scott TMS:slc Suite 317 · Eagandalc Offic~ Center · 1380 Corpordte Center Curve . Eagan, MN S5121