About a dozen New York Mills residents attended a hearing Tuesday to discuss and debate with the City Council street improvement assessments regarding Park Street and the Jaeger Addition.
The city reconstructed Park Street with new subgrade, curb and gutter, and overlay. The Jaeger Addition - Smith Avenue, Lund Street and Larson Court - was just an asphalt overlay.
This was the second hearing held regarding the assessments and comes after residents on those streets received their final bills. Many of the questions centered around how the city comes up with the assessment amounts for each property owner. Those with the most questions and concerns were property owners with corner lots and those with odd-shaped lots in the Larson Court cul de sac.
The assessments are determined using a formula based on the long and short sides of 100-foot lots. Much of the confusion comes in determining a figure for the pie-shaped or odd-shaped lots, those that are not rectangles.
Project engineer Jon Pratt and Mayor Randy Clarksean explained to the residents the in developing the assessment policy the city tried to make it as fair as possible, taking into consideration some of the odd-shaped lots. For example, a pie-shaped lot in the cul de sac is narrow in front and wide in back. Instead of using the length of the short side in front in figuring footage, the city calculated the lot as if it were a standard rectangle. The assessments are based on total footage, not just footage adjacent to the improved street. Clarksean stated these types of lots are bigger than what the front represents, and it's not about just paying for pavement in front of the property. He went on to explain the improved street is a benefit to the homeowner and everyone gets some benefit of the new street.
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"I understand what you're saying, I just don't like it," one cul de sac property owner commented.
According to the Pratt, the lots approaching the cul de sac are 100-foot wide lots on the front.
Pratt said they took the project cost and estimated the footage for the total project to figure out the assessments. Clarksean told the residents the formula is not perfect but its the fairest way the city has for coming up with the assessments.
The total project cost for the mill and overlay in the Jaeger Addition was $90,000. The city's share was $22,500 and the balance assessed to property owners. The average assessment for the property owners was $1,489. The Park Street improvements cost $167,000 with the city paying $73,000. The remainder was assessed to the property owners.
Tuesday's hearing saw many of the same complaints and concerns as the hearing held for the streets assessments in Hidden Trails earlier this year.
