City Approves Assessment Roll for Major Road Project

The Woodbury City Council on Wednesday approved assessments for .

About 11 miles of streets in the Windwood and neighborhoods will see improvements under the $7.5 million project, which will impact about 1,800 homes. A right-turn lane on Pioneer Drive at Bailey Road is also part of the project, though the cost of that work will fall to the city.

Residents will foot nearly $2.3 million of the cost of the project, which City Engineer Klayton Eckles has called the biggest ever undertaken by Woodbury.

Two residents spoke during a public hearing on the matter, one who asked about the city’s process for deferment for seniors and another who questioned the expected value increase to homes as a result of the roadwork and the city’s assessment policy in general.

• Single-family homes (187): $1,726
• Twin homes (142): $1,287
• Quad homes (404): $996
• Townhomes (88): $705

• Single-family homes (560): $1,877
• Quad homes (192): $1,283
• Association pool: $9,300

Residents can pay the assessments right away, or have the tab go on their tax roll and pay it over 15 years at 3 percent interest.

The primary concern for the city, Eckles said, is to ensure the project increases home values at least as much as the assessment cost. He said city appraisers have reported home values will increase 2-4 times the assessment costs, a “pretty substantial cushion.”

Part of the reason for the size of the project—the city has moved up its timeframe for the roadwork—is because of low bond rates and a favorable bidding climate, Eckles said.

Woodbury tries to hit the “sweet spot” at which roads are repaired before the sub-layers become damaged and require more extensive work, Eckles said.

“That’s why it pays to keep up on this,” he said.

The work is expected to begin May 14 and wrap up in mid-October. The work will be done in phases so the neighborhoods aren’t torn up at once, and the city will send out construction notices. A neighborhood meeting is set for May 8.

The resident who asked about deferrals for seniors was primarily concerned about the city’s criteria for doing so. He said he’s a bus driver for District 622 and doesn’t make a lot of money, though he does have funds saved up for his children.

He was assured by Councilman Paul Rebholz that it’s income-based, not asset-based: “It’s an income test, not an asset test.”

Jerry Dabe, meanwhile, said city staffers told him his home value would increase three times the assessment cost.

“That’s really hard for me to believe,” he said.

He also asked if the city has conducted reviews after a project is complete to determine if home values truly increased as expected, and added that he was “very unhappy” he was unable to see the assessor’s report.

Eckles said the city doesn’t release that information in case someone opts to challenge the assessments and the city ends up in a legal dispute. City Attorney Mark Vierling said the information is protected by attorney-client privilege.

As for the city’s policy of having residents pay one-third of the cost of road projects, Woodbury strikes a “happy-medium,” Councilwoman Amy Scoggins said, and has had the policy in place for some time. “It’s been working.”

“It wouldn’t be fair (to residents affected by previous projects) if we changed it now,” Scoggins said.

City Administrator Clint Gridley said consistency is the most important thing for any city’s assessment policy.

Rebholz also said the city should examine how it deals with the assessment for the association pool and come up with a policy for dealing with these types of properties in the future.

The city also awarded the contract to Asphalt Surface Technologies Corporation and approved bonds for the project.

Part of the project also calls for making a dry pond at Leyland Trail and Hillingdon Road a wet one.

The pond will capture water—and phosphorous—before it enters Colby Lake, and an irrigation system will be installed at Windwood Passage Park. (The cost for the irrigation system will primarily be paid for through a grant from a local watershed district.)

Dozens of trees will be removed as part of the pond project, and though the city will plant additional trees and bushes, council members did question how the work fits into the city’s tree-replacement policy.

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