City to ask some to pave way for streets

PALMER — The city wants to establish a special assessment district that would require affected property owners to help foot the bill on Blueberry Street improvements.

The estimated $4.4 million project would pave roads and replace water mains on the east side of downtown Palmer. In addition, it will create a storm drain system, replace fire hydrants and install street lights and sidewalks.

The state, the borough and the city have already approved most of the funding, but Palmer City Manager Bill Allen has asked the council to require property owners pay 25 percent of the cost to pave the roads, an estimated $270,000. This sum would be split between the owners of the 54 properties by a formula as yet to be determined by the council.

Allen said this is just a part of a larger project for the city.

“We have a five-year plan, the foundation of which is to replace as many of the old water mains as we can. We have a 46 percent leakage rate in Palmer,” Allen said.

“One of the directives of the City Council is to get the streets paved in Palmer,” said Councilwoman Kathrine Vanover. “We’re very proud of our community, and it’s a shame we have all the muddy and bumpy streets. We figure if you’re going to dig up the streets to lay a new sewer line, let’s get them paved while we’re at it.”

Property owner Chris Curtis has no problem with putting new water mains in, but he thinks the price tag to pave the roads after is too high for his neighbors to afford.

“The estimate is based on last year’s price of asphalt,” adds Curtis.

“I not so much worried about myself,” Curtis said, “but I am more concerned about my neighbors on a fixed income who have absolutely no way to get a job.”

Allen knows the estimate was based on last year’s cost, and is comfortable the price for the project will be less than what’s projected. Additionally, he said, this is essentially an investment for the property owners.

“You have to remember (the property owners) are getting all the other stuff for free,” Allen said. “This is a real benefit to them. It will increase the value of their property, lower the maintenance cost to the city, and the jobs it will create are nothing to sneeze at.”

Both sides made their case at a public hearing on Tuesday night.

“Like all Americans, (the speakers) were concerned about the economic crisis,” Councilwoman Vanover said. “None of us want to put a hardship on the people of Palmer.”

According to city code, the SAD can be shot down by a petition signed by the owners of the properties who would bear 50 percent or more of the total cost. If the petition went through, it would reduce the amount the property owners have to pay by half.

This would be an acceptable compromise to Curtis, the driving force behind the petition campaign. But Curtis also said he will withdraw the petition if it threatens the project as a whole.

“A council member told me that if the petition passes, it will put the kibosh on the whole project,” Curtis said. “That is not my intention. My intention is to simply not be gouged as a property owner. I just don’t want the government mandating how I spend my money.”

For the sake of the petition, the council has adopted a temporary formula to determine who would pay what. The formula is the average between the per lot cost, $5,000, and the cost based on the square footage of each lot.

Before Tuesday’s meeting, Curtis claimed he had 66 percent of the properties and 63 percent of the property owners on the petition. However, the petition submitted at Tuesday’s meeting was short of the required 50 percent, said City Clerk Janette Bower.

“The council found ways to take people off the petition,” said Curtis. For example, he said, “They took a woman off whose husband died in 2001 but is still on the deed. I’m not going to ask her to present a note saying her husband is dead to the council.”

Curtis asked two members of the council to recuse themselves, saying they had too much vested interest in the project to make an objective vote. The brother of Mayor John Combs owns property in the area, and Councilman Brad Hanson is himself an affected property owner. Leaving only five voting members, Curtis all but assured the council would not reach the five-vote super majority needed to overturn the petition.

Another sticking point is the 6 percent interest rate the city is proposing to charge the owners. Curtis thinks a rate around 3 percent is more realistic, and Allen said this was the main point of contention at the meeting.

Even though the petition failed at Tuesday’s meeting, the council decided to table the vote until their next meeting on March 24 at 7 p.m. This gives Curtis more time to pass the petition around, and allows the community more of an opportunity to voice their opinion.

Bill Allen is worried the property owners are losing sight of the bigger picture.

If the funding is not resolved soon, the city stands to lose the grants it got from the state for the project. Money from the federal stimulus package is not an option, he said, because the state has already approved most of the funding.

“If for some reason, the project was rejected, it would be hard for me to go back to the Legislature to say, ‘Thanks but no thanks.’ They will remember that next time we ask for money,” he said.