May 11, 2023 at 12:01 p.m.
Council votes to waive Ohlson Lane special assessment
The intent of the vote was to resolve a controversy that has dogged the city since late January when the residents of Ohlson Lane showed up en masse to protest being "blindsided" by the charge.
In January, and again on Monday evening, the Ohlson Lane contingent stressed that they neither asked for or wanted city utilities and the city failed to communicate that the work done in 2022 would result in each of them owing such a hefty amount.
According to the River News' recording of the Oct. 25, 2021 council meeting, the Ohlson Lane utility project was prompted by the construction of a new single family home on the street.
Alderman Steven Jopek, whose district includes Ohlson Lane, opened Monday's discussion by arguing the residents should not have to pay the special assessment. Instead, he proposed that each resident pay a connection fee when their current system fails and they have no choice but to connect to the city system.
He stated that he has researched the issue and the "benefit" of city water and sewer is a matter of debate
"I dug into it, I asked Realtors, it's outright contested," Jopek said, referring to the value of a city system versus a private system.
He also contended the Ohlson Lane project has "an unclear end state".
"We do not have a development end state for this project and therefore these seven households are being punished for an action done by the city," he said. "I believe they should pay the hookup fee when the time comes that their septic fails and they're statutorily required (to connect) but otherwise I do not believe these households should be charged the $24,000."
Several alderpersons indicated they were amenable to Jopek's proposal, councilman David Holt called his colleague's argument "compelling", but a question was raised as to the amount of the connection fee.
City attorney Steve Sorenson clarified that the connection fee is different and separate from the cost each individual homeowner will bear in terms of putting in a lateral to effectuate the connection.
"Don't confuse connection fee with the cost of your lateral," the attorney warned.
"I just want it to be very clear to the people in the room that there would still be a fee, just like the gentleman who already connected paid. There will still be a fee when you connect, but until you connect you will not pay any fees," he explained.
At one point, a figure in the neighborhood of $6,000 was mentioned as an estimated fee amount to connect to the Ohlson Lane utilities. That figure was based on quick calculations made by Mark Barden of Town and Country Engineering but no hard number was included in the motion approved by the council. A formula will need to be developed to determine the fee, the group agreed.
As the discussion came to a close, Mayor Kris Hanus noted that choosing not to include a hard number could cause problems in the future as there is now an unknown expense attached to each of the Ohlson Lane properties.
"If one of those homeowners wants to sell their property, there's going to be something tied to it that a title company can't say here's a hard number," he noted. "You'd have to go to the city, get that information which could then hurt them from a resale value because the person buying it might not want to go into that can of worms without knowing a hard dollar amount, so that cuts both ways."
It was also noted that the result of the city "eating" the amount that was to be assessed to the Ohlson Lane residents is a reduction in the city's utility reserves.
To watch the full discussion, visit www.hodagtv.com.
Heather Schaefer may be reached at [email protected].
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