2008 willard-homewood paving project
Apr 7th, 2008 by jodi
Background
- The City is preparing to restore the pavement on all residential streets in the Willard Homewood neighborhood sometime during the summer of 2008. Details can be learned from the February 5 City Council reports (scroll down to item #3):
- Residential property owners will be charged $0.16 per square foot of their property.
Description
- Pavement on streets will be scraped down about 2” to 3”. New pavement will be installed. The City budget will contribute the remaining $0.05 per square foot.
- Typical lot will be assessed approximately $1400 (some will be more and some will be less). Assessments can be paid back to the City over time on tax statements. More information is on City webpage at http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/special%2Dassessments/
- Retired people and people with permanent disabilities can defer assessment until their house is sold.
- Project DOES NOT include:
- Repair curbs
- Traffic calming
- There will be a public hearing before assessments are approved by City Council.
Pros
- Pavement is over 30 years old and will deteriorate rapidly over time. It is cheaper to improvement pavement now than wait until pavement is in worse condition in future.
- Oil prices will affect cost of asphalt; assessments will likely be much greater in future.
- All neighborhoods will see similar projects over next 15 years.
Cons
- No opportunity to request other neighborhood improvements, such as traffic calming.
- If neighborhood opposes project, then future project to be more expensive.
- If neighborhood requests more improvements, then assessments likely to increase.
- Project is not green or sustainable.