Memorandum 14-133 Natural Gas SAD Exemptions

Memorandum 14-133

TO:                        Mayor Wythe and Homer City Council

THROUGH:        Walt Wrede, City Manager, Rick Abboud, City Planner

FROM:                 Julie Engebretsen, Deputy City Planner

DATE:                   September 2, 2014

SUBJECT:          Resolution 14-092

RE: Changes to the Homer Natural Gas Assessment District, Preliminary Assessment Roll between August 27, 2013 and July 28, 2014

This memorandum outlines changes to the Homer Natural Gas Assessment District, Preliminary Assessment Roll. Due to the extent of this project, staff will present Council with these changes approximately twice a year through December 2014. This process allows citizens to petition council to remove lands from the district based on the criteria approved by Resolution 12-076, and for tracking of property changes within the district for the purposes of levying assessments.

This memo describes changes to the assessment roll for property actions between August 27, 2013 and July 28th 2014. These changes fall in three categories; additional lands that should be exempt from the district per Resolution 12-076, lands that do not have access to gas due to changes in construction plans, and lands that have changed through a platting action recorded on or prior to July 28, 2014.

Requested Lot Exemptions
Four property owners have requested lot exclusions. One does not have access to gas, two lots are steep and undevelopable, and the fourth lot can’t access the gas due to a large canyon between the gas line and the developed area of the property. 

Staff Recommends These be granted an exemption from the district and gas assessment.

Gas line construction changes and resulting exclusions

In the spring, Enstar consulted with the Administration on not building gas lines in several rights of way. All the rights of way are undeveloped, and most adjacent land is vacant. Generally, the City did not include lands on undeveloped rights of way in the SAD. But there were a few locations where the decision needed to be made once the project was underway. The properties on the attached table do not have direct access to a gas line, and should be excluded from the SAD. Property owners have been notified of the change and there were no objections.

Platting Actions
The attached table describes the changes to the assessment roll due to recorded plats between August 27, 2013, and July 28, 2014

Attachments: Spreadsheet of Changes dated 7/28/2014