MEMORANDUM 07-99

To: Walt Wrede, City Manager

From: Carey Meyer, Public Works Director

Date: April 18, 2007

Subject: Creation of Final Assessments - Revised Assessment Amounts

Ocean Drive Loop and Peterson Sewer LID’s

Public hearings regarding assessments for the Ocean Drive Loop Sewer LID and the Peterson Sewer LID have been held. Residents had questions about how the proposed assessment values were determined. Public Works as responded to these concerns by making adjustments to the proposed per lot assessments.

The final number of lots contained within these LID’s was less than the number of lots originally established. Ocean Drive Loop LID originally contained 60 lots; at this time there are 53. Peterson LID originally contained 16 lots; now it has 9.

The City Council passed an ordinance in September 2006 (Ordinance 47A-06) that eliminated the ability of property owners to reduce the number of lots within a LID by re-platting (combining lots) after an LID has been created.

This occurred in the Peterson LID (after the LID was created), but it was generally recognized by the property owners and City staff that the number of lots was going to be reduced from sixteen to nine. Even though some plats were recorded by the Borough after the ordinance was passed, these plats were being prepared and submitted to the Homer Planning Commission as the LID was being created. Public Works supports the recognition of these plats as valid and recommends finalizing the Peterson LID lot assessments with nine lots.

In the Ocean Drive Loop LID, re-platting was accomplished prior to the passing of Ordinance 47A-06. As in previous LID’s, under the rules that were in effect at the time, these re-platting efforts could and should reduce the number of lots within the LID. But one of the plats that combine lots in the Peterson LID combined lots within the original Ocean Drive Loop LID. It was not generally recognized by the property owners in the original LID that this plat would affect the number of lots in their LID. It does not seem fair that a re-plat originating from the Peterson LID, after the passing of the Ordinance, should reduce the number of lots in the original Ocean Drive Loop LID. This plat reduced the number of lots in the original LID by two. Without this plat, there would be 55 lots in the Ocean Drive Loop LID.

See attached maps showing details of this situation. Map 1 shows the LID as it was originally envisioned (with the area affected by the re-plat shown). Map 2 shows the LID as it exists today (with the area affected by the re-plat shown).

The original per lot assessments for each LID was $11,126.23 (with 60 lots in Ocean Drive Loop LID and 16 lots within Peterson LID)

The total cost for each LID has been calculated to be as follows:

Ocean Drive Loop LID $ 922,012

Peterson LID $ 204,632

Recommendation:

1) Peterson Sewer LID

The number of lots in the Peterson LID should be recognized to be nine. The per lot assessment for the Peterson LID should be established at $17,052.67.

Public Works recommends that the Council reduce the assessment for two single lots in the Peterson LID (see Map 2) to the same amount as an Ocean Drive Loop property (and the City pay the remainder). These are the only lots in the Peterson LID that were not re-platted to combine it with another lot. The Ocean Drive Loop per lot assessment is a fairer assessment than the Peterson LID assessment, based on the relative size of the lot.

2) Ocean Loop Drive Sewer LID

The number of lots in the Ocean Loop Drive LID should be recognized to be 55. The per lot assessment for the Ocean Loop Drive LID should be established at $12,572.89.