05/02/2000 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Council Minutes of 5/2/2000 AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION ~,. ~„ Rudy Spagnuolo, 130 Greenward Way South, spoke as a representative of a number of Viewpoint and Pebblebrook residents. The residents are concerned about Canterbury Road and that the road will not be repaired this year. There are 250 homes in Viewpoint for an investment in the city of about $50 million. The residents pay property taxes of about $1 million a year and personal income tax of about $250,000 a year. Viewpoint contracts out for its own rubbish collection and its own snow removal, which is a big savings to the city. Pebblebrook has about 60 homes, an approximate value of about $18 million. Their tax base is about $350,000 per year and about $90,000 in personal income tax. These two developments can only be accessed by Canterbury, a dirt road covered and paved with no white lines on the sides and no line down the middle. The road has been patched and re-patched. Also, on Canterbury Road. are three of the finest facilities in the city for recreation, entertainment and banquets. There are thousands of visitors using those facilities each year. There is a safety hazard with the present road as it has tall telephone poles, overhead wires and trees. Anew wider road with underground wires could alleviate the hazards. He urged Council to reconsider doing Canterbury Road this year. President Saringer told Mr. Spagnuolo that the whole Council has a vision that all of our roads could be in good condition. There axe residents who have lived on streets for 20 and 30 years who have appealed to Council to fix their streets. Council would like all the streets to be resurfaced, but at this time they had to make a decision on Canterbury Road. There are only so many funds to go around. Mr. McKay reiterated that the Viewpoint residents pay the same taxes as the rest of the city and do not get rubbish pickup or snow removal. Mrs. Saringer noted that the streets are not dedicated streets as they were not built to city specifications. Evidently, the builder chose not to do that when the development was built. Mr. O'Grady said he felt Mr. Spagnuolo's point is that this group of residents is contributing a significant amount year after year to the city, whereas the city, based on the fact that the streets are not dedicated, is not contributing all that much back in towards the residents. It is a point well taken. There certainly are other streets in the city that are needy, but Council would be very hard pressed to find one small stretch of street that affects as many homes and as many residents as South Canterbury. He would like Council to reconsider, at least for the engineering. Mr. Nashar said he felt that Stearns Road near the Cambridge Crossing development was in far worse shape than Canterbury. He noted that, when the decision was made on Canterbury, it was pointed out that it would be looked at next year. Mr. Spagnuolo said he would like Council to keep in mind that this is a very unique street and has at the end of it two golf courses that are widely used by residents and visitors to the city. Also, Springvale has a unique facility in the ballroom in that is used quite often by senior citizens. Mrs. Kasler commented that there is a significant price tag, $600,000, to do this project. Her concern is that, faced with that price tag, it is Council's obligation to protect the tax dollars that citizens contribute and make sure that they are spent wisely. Her concern with this project and her impression is that there are some pricey aesthetic features to it that may have raised the price. She needs to see a little more on that. She does not object to the aesthetic improvement because of the recreational facilities located there. However, it is difficult to rationalize a center island on this street when we have other streets in the city where the residents are bringing in pieces of the concrete. Secondly, she objects to the portion of the project that includes providing improvements 6