Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout1B Work Session Street Infrastructure Costs Report Phone 952.447.9800 / Fax 952.447.4245 / www.cityofpriorlake.com 4646 Dakota Street SE Prior Lake, MN 55372 CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION REPORT MEETING DATE: SEPTEMBER 3, 2019 AGENDA #: 1B PREPARED BY: ANDY BROTZLER, CITY ENGINEER/PUBLIC WORKS DIRECTOR CASEY MCCABE, COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR SARAH SCHWARZHOFF, CITY ATTORNEY PRESENTED BY: ANDY BROTZLER CASEY MCCABE SARAH SCHWARZHOFF CRAIG VAUGHN, SRF CONSULTING GROUP AGENDA ITEM: INFRASTRUCTURE BENEFIT STUDY ACTION REQUESTED: Review proposed procedure and provide feedback to staff. In particular: 1. Determine if Council is willing to adopt the SRF tool for use in the new street financing system. 2. Direct staff regarding how the new system will be implemented for improvements where the funding may be inequitable – limit growth, provide public funds, timing of deposits. 3. Determine how to fund any City portion of improvements. INTRODUCTION: Over the summer, city staff and the Council have been working on a revised system to fund street improvements made necessary by new development, including adoption of ordinance amendments and development of an infrastructure benefit allocation tool with SRF Consulting Group. Staff intends to review the new system with the Council to ensure the Council is comfortable and to obtain Council feedback on the three questions listed above. Questions Council asked about SRF tool at the last workshop: • Are all the projects included? Yes, staff has reviewed the SRF maps to ensure all currently expected projects are included. In addition, as each project gets closer in time details will be added. Most of the projects will not be fully fleshed out until a benefiting development is proposed. • What about highways 17 and 13? This is a County/State decision, but staff will closely monitor to ensure we are prepared for any changes to this corridor. New Street Financing System The new system provides for the developer to build or the City to build and assess the developer for all improvements needed for a development. This will include, but is not limited to, collector streets, intersections needed at the time of development, medians, turn lanes, right of way acquisition, curbs, gutters, sidewalks and trails. If the developer is unwilling to build the needed improvements, or have the City build and assess, the development can be deemed premature. For 2 improvements that are not needed at the time of development (i.e. intersections needed later) the developer will provide a deposit to be used toward the improvement. The new system is not perfect. It does not work nearly as well nor is it as equitable as the previous street fee system. However, it does work and is supported by current law. Staff believes that a legislative solution is still the best answer, but in the interim this system may be our best alternative. SRF Tool The tool provided by SRF shows the expected improvements and how those improvements will be allocated between currently undeveloped property. Staff will walk through several examples to show the Council how the tool will be used to allocate responsibility for improvements for new developments. Costs The City won’t know exactly what is needed for each improvement until the improvement is planned and designed. However, the SRF tool provides placeholders (which staff can update as more information is gathered or for inflation) which provide an estimate of the expected project. City staff and SRF have identified an estimated total city cost share of all the expected infrastructure in the amount of $35 million. This includes collector streets and intersections in the annexation area and intersections in the current City limits (collector streets will be built/expanded by the developer at the time of development). Approximately $17 million of the total $35 million is related to improvements either entirely in the annexation area or made necessary by development within the annexation area. Since the Council has indicated that it is not interested in additional annexation until the street financing situation has been fixed, the amount that is of concern right now is the $18 million for projects within the current City limits. The $18 million will be covered partially by developer build, assessments or deposits; however, it is likely the deposits will not be enough to cover all the improvements. Therefore, the City will likely need to budget additional funds for these improvements. Other Cities Other cities are using a variety of solutions. Some are still charging a street fee, some are using general tax dollars, some are using special assessments for all improvements and some are using other fees to cover the cost. Although not an equitable solution, staff believes the new system presented tonight is the best option for the City of Prior Lake due to legal support and allocation of cost until a legislative solution is identified.