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Page 2 of 3 In any special assessment process, an appeal by a property owner is a possibility. An appeal is costly for everyone. If someone really, really wants to appeal, no matter how perfect the � process or the numbers or the "benefit", you cannot prevent someone from appealing. However, as much as we all want to get things for the cheapest price possible, I do not want to put the City in a position where we do not follow State Statutes and open up the City to an "easy" special assessment appeal. As I see it right now, here are the Council's options: 1. Based on input received since the hearing, rescind your previous Resolution Ordering Improvement and Preparation of Plans and cancel the project. 2. Rethink the special assessment approach and maybe contribute some City at-large monies (it can be any percentage, but maybe 80% assessed and 20% City) to see if that would switch some of those opposed to be supportive. While every project is case-by-case to some degree, you need to keep the longer-term picture in mind when setting special assessment percentages and methodologies. 3. Move forward with the proposed approach, design the project, bid the project with bids good for 60 days, and right after the bids are opened but before awarding to a construction contractor, hold the final special assessment hearing. Within 30 days of approving a special assessment roll, property owners can appeal. If anyone does, you can cancel the bids, not award the project, and put the plans on the shelf. I would not recommend getting into a habit of doing this, but it is an option. ... In considering your options, there are more, but maybe re-fresh yourselves with the following: + The City did not have this project on its road improvement plan; it is a private street; it was several of the property owners that initiated this potential project. + Most projects, to one degree or another, have the following kinds of issues: residents versus absentee owners; developed lots versus un-developed lots; large lots versus small lots (not an issue to date with the per parcel approach); individual financial situations (always tough for any approach to be "fair" for everyone); special assessment amount versus perceived benefit amount (is it initial increase in market value, is it increase in market value over the term of the special assessment, is it the market value increase of the largest lot or the smallest lot, how does the market account for a person wanting to sell their house and they believe there is a benefit to a paved road versus a gravel road; etc.). There is usually no formula for accounting for each of these. Each Council Member needs to assign their own weight or ranking to each factor. + Dall got a bid before to pave the road, but even with this bid that was lower than our estimate in the study (and we take some grief on this, which, I guess, is just part of being in the public improvement "business"), not every property owner was apparently going to pay for a part of the bid Dall obtained. Is any dollar amount going to be low enough for these property owners? + Versus the property owners doing it themselves, and maybe not getting 100% participation, a special assessment process will charge everyone. If no one appeals, this is probably fine, but it �-- is a process, and does take some effort and money. + As an alternative to the special assessment process, maybe, even without some property 1 /26/2011