WORKSHOP ITEM Bryan Schafer, Community Development Director
Title
LEVER STREET (NORTH OF 125TH AVE)
Background
The City Council initiated a project in 2016 that placed sewer and water utilities under and to the north side of 125th Avenue at Lever Street. The utility extensions were for the benefit of the development area and property along the Lever Street spine north of 125th Avenue. Over the last several months three separate developers have come forward for the parcels they have under contract and intend to purchase. The three entities and their parcels are as follows:
From North to South (see attached map):
• Lennar Homes/John Peterson- 37 acres with potential for 75-85 lots
• Excelsior Group- 100-110 acres with potential for 300 lots
• Anoka-Hennepin Schools- 40 acres for future school (likely elementary K-5)
Staff has met with the group over the last month to determine their interests, timing and approach to completing the reconstruction of Lever Street with utilities from the 125th Avenue intersection to the north edge of the existing Lever Street boundary (just over ¾ of a mile). As a result of those discussions the development groups has asked if the City would consider building those needed improvements as a public petition process and levying the costs accordingly.
The project scope would need to include full utilities for ¾ of a mile, MSA standard street (similar to the new Lever Street south of 125th Avenue or Harpers Street), trail, sidewalk, storm sewer and ponds, multiple easement acquisitions (current right of way is not wide enough) and roadway improvements (turn lanes, etc.) on 125th Avenue as required by Anoka County Highway Department (ACHD). Because of all the work involved the current preliminary construction estimate is between $3.75 - 4.25 million.
There are two primary methods this work could get done:
• Privately constructed and financed by the three development groups. The City would have some financial involvement in terms of trunk fee reimbursements but most of the cost would be borne by the three parties. While this would be the preferred method, in many ways this process has several issues:
1. Large portions of the cost primarily in reconstructing Lever Street and the 125th Ave intersection would have benefit to many other property owners in this area. If done privately there is no way to pass any share of the street improvement costs on to those other properties. This would result in the three development groups paying an inordinate share of the cost which raises equity issues and may result in their proposed developments not being feasible.
2. One of the developers is a school district that has limitations on the type of contracts it could sign and may not be capable of working on a private contract partnership because of those limitations. Additionally, the need to front their share of the project cost might be difficult given the need to wait for a successful bond referendum (Fall 2017).
3. The project construction will require easements the length of Lever Street because the existing right of way is too narrow for a Municipal State Aid (MSA) standard street with trail and sidewalk. In addition there will be need for storm ponds which may or may not be able to locate on the three development pieces. Doing a private project sets almost an impossible scenario of having the developers attempting to obtain the necessary easements from non-developing properties.
The alternate is to complete this project with a public petition and a construction process led and managed by the City. This process, while possibly adding more time to the schedule and creating the need to assess property for the cost, does address all of the points above. It will be more complicated from a City perspective but should result in a fairer determination and allocation of costs. It also removes some of the uncertainty for other property owners (outside the 3 mentioned) in terms of costs and schedule.
At this stage a number of potential funding sources have been identified, including the sanitary sewer and water utility funds, MSA funds, the Pavement Management Program (PMP) fund, and assessments against benefitting properties. As the project progresses and becomes better defined, actual amounts from the various sources will be determined.
Recommendation
Provide direction on whether the City Council feels that this project might be a good candidate for a public petition process. While the next steps are laid out below the public process would not likely result in any work commencing until sometime late in 2017 with completion late summer 2018. Private developments could be approved during late 2017 and commence with grading and site development at that same time with finished streets and lots in late summer of 2018.
Next Steps (based on Public Process):
• Staff prepares a project scope and formal petition document that can be circulated (Jan)
• City hosts a neighborhood meeting for Lever Street property owners to understand the petition scope, process and schedule (Feb)
• Signed Petition is presented for City Council review and ordering of a feasibility report (March)
• City Council reviews feasibility report, holds a public hearing and determines if the project should be ordered (April-May)
• City secures consultant to begin survey and design of project (May)
• City engages other approving agencies: ACHD, Rice Creek Watershed, Army Corp Engineers (May-Aug)***
• Plans are prepared and project is bid (Sept-Oct)
• City Council awards construction contracts (Oct-Nov)
*** This step creates an undetermined time variable which could delay any work until Spring/Summer 2018
Attachments
Area Map