Elmcrest Park Entry Road

The City uses a 60-ft easement across private property as the northern entry into Elmcrest Park.  The underlying property owner has used portions of the Elmcrest park easement for storage of agricultural equipment and material.  This has generated numerous complaints from the neighborhood.  This issue was brought before the Council on October 26, 2021 by neighboring residents.  Council direction was for staff to review alternatives and to schedule for the agenda on November 9. 

I spoke with Mr. Sykes today about selling his property and he is interested in selling.  He is going to calculate a price and send it to me.  He is interested in maintaining access to his property with a driveway from this direction.  He also mentioned that he is moving some of the material he put next to the road and “cleaning it up” a little and demonstrating cooperation.
 

 

 

 

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Staff suggests discussion of the following alternatives:

Continue to use access road as is.  Under the current easement, the City can continue to use the road as public access to the park and enforce the Cit's rights to maintain a clear and unobstructed easement.   The previous City Attorney (Joe Langel) was of the opinion that it is the City’s right to have an unimpeded easement to the park.  The underlying property owner has made recent progress in moving some material back from the road over the past week, and the City would requirement the easement to remain clear in the future. The City's new Attorney (Fritz Knaak) has been informed of the situation and will be at the Council meeting on November 9.  This alternative is the lowest direct cost, but likely will result in various neighborhood conflicts over subsequent years.

Purchase fee title to property.  The underlying property owner  has indicated an interest in the sale of the property to the City and said that he would provide a price to the City.  As of this date, a price has not been received.  The City could acquire the property for public purpose of parkland and access.  In any event, the City is obligated to pay at least fair market value.
City purchase of the property is a solution that avoids the cost of relocating the road and eliminates the conflicts caused by a park road, agricultural use, and adjacent residential uses trying to occupy the same space.  Note, the underlying property owner indicated a desire to maintain a driveway access over part of this property to the remainder of his property (lying to the west).

Construct an alternative access road and vacate easement.
Attached is a figure showing the existing 24-foot wide temporary park access road and connecting water tower driveway shaded in red, as well as the proposed 24-foot wide park access road shaded in magenta.  Existing utilities are included in the figure, which include Zayo fiberoptics, CenterPoint gas, Connexus electric, and Comcast and CenturyLink telecommunications lines. At a minimum these utilities serve the adjacent private properties, as well as the buildings and water tower in Elmcrest Park. The private utilities were field located and surveyed so their positioning on this figure is generally accurate.
 
The estimated project cost for removing the existing road and driveway and constructing the proposed road totals $214,000. This estimated project cost includes 10-percent contingency costs and 23-percent indirect costs. Staff does not anticipate the City would be responsible for paying to relocate the private utilities, but we also do not know if any private agreements were executed with private property owners. As noted below, if the City does need to pay to relocate utilities it could cost the City up to $70,000 to do so.
 

Purchase of the park land and access, and access to the water tower can come from various funding sources including park dedication and water enterprise funds.

Staff recommend seeking a price from the underlying land owner for purchase of the property and identifying appropriate funding based upon the price and purpose of the land.

Consensus of Council direction to staff based upon discussion.