As the Mayor and members of the council are aware, the Woodland Reserve Townhome Association have approached the City previously and continue to petition the city to provide assistance and/or financial relief for the pond on their property that is severely silted and in need of dredging at this time. The pond is located just north of NE 36th Street and between Four Mile Creek and NE Trilein Drive. Association representatives have asked the city to help pay for dredging the silt out of the pond, repairing a failing storm outlet, replacing bank stabilization stone, and making channel repairs on their property.
A recent meeting that included the Mayor was productive and established the City’s position on this pond. Specifically, this pond is not a City owned facility and thus the maintenance or repair of the facility should not be taxpayer- financed.
When preparing for this meeting, staff compiled platting and development information on Woodland Reserve. A review of the plat information and plans showed an issue for which the city is responsible. When the initial construction improvements were completed, a portion of the 8’ wide recreation trail that runs through the adjacent Four Mile Creek Greenbelt was inadvertently constructed on the WR property, instead of wholly on the city owned greenbelt property.
Staff contacted the Woodland Reserve Townhome Association and made them aware of this encroachment. Staff also informed the association that the City would do what is necessary to rectify this encroachment. One option would be to create a trail easement and pay the association a reasonable fee for the easement so that the trail could remain in place.
The other option would be for the City to remove and reconstruct the encroaching trail segments onto the city property. An estimate of the cost for this reconstruction, as completed by Snyder & Associates, was $34,600.00. The association initially requested that the City pay the $34,600 for the easement. This amount would provide initial funding for the extensive pond repairs that the association is going to have to fund by themselves. Staff noted that the value of the easement area would be less than this reconstruction cost, and a counter offer was tendered. After brief negotiations, a settlement value of $27,450 was agreed upon.
The proposed council action is the approval and acceptance of the public trail easement in exchange for the $27,450 payment to the Woodland Reserve Townhome Association. It is recommended that this transaction be approved by council.
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