By Sara Quam
Anticipation of next year's road construction and related assessments prompted the Luverne City Council to review some of its policies Tuesday.
Scheduled reconstruction includes portions of Freeman and Estey streets. Estey will be reconstructed from Main to Barck, and Freeman will be worked on from Lincoln to Barck. Also, the city will reconstruct Brown from Freeman to Highway 75, Crawford from Estey to Highway 75 and Bishop from Freeman to Highway 75.
Estimated cost for the project is $850,000.
Because the construction will include special assessments, the city will contact property owners and host public hearings.
The council looked over its improvement policy and City Administrator Matt Hylen asked, "What percentage is acceptable to this City Council to charge abutting property owners?"
The council decided that the current policies are adequate and that it doesn't need to amend them.
The 153 affected property owners will pay assessments estimated at about $2,000. The assessments are usually paid over 10 or 15 years.
The estimates could change if the price of oil increases drastically because of the recent discussions of war or military action.
Property owners will pay assessments of 50 percent of the sidewalk, 50 percent of the street and 100 percent of curb and gutter. Special calculations are used for corner properties. Measurements of each lot are used for the percentages that property owners will have to pay and property owners’ specific costs will come out later.
An engineer and surveyors will look at the project before it begins next spring. The city urges other people who are considering alley paving or parking lot improvements to use the engineer at the same time to save on costs.
The city, in the past, has notified property owners that benefited from similar projects by letter how they will be affected. The letter makes city staff available for visits to their property to explain the project.
Councilman Tom Martius said he'd like to see that continue. "I think you should visit with people and give them a heads up on what’s going on."
Hylen said, "The sooner we talk with citizens that are affected, the better."
Bids could be opened for the construction as early as January.