Consideration of Amendment to Charter section 8.4.5 - Counter Petitions to Council Initiated Improvements

Purpose: To consider the impact of existing Charter language concerning counter-petitions to Council initiated improvements and possible changes to that language.

Background: Under the City Charter, local improvement projects financed to some degree by special assessments can be initiated by either a petition from property owners or by the Council.  If the Council initiates the project, property owners who would be assessed for the project can petition against it.  The petition must be filed within 60 days of the Council's public hearing and the petition must be signed by more than 50% of the property owners.  If a valid petition is filed, the project cannot proceed "at the expense of the benefited property owners."

A drawback to this approach (which does not otherwise exist in state law), is that by the time the Council holds the assessment hearing, the City has already invested considerable funds and effort in engineering work and in producing the required feasibility study.  A successful petition against the improvement means those funds and effort are wasted.  The Council wishes to modify the Charter so as to reduce the possibility of spending funds unnecessarily.  This can be accomplished by increasing the required percentage of petitioning property owners from 50% to 75%.  

Attached for Charter Commission review, is Chapter 8 of the City's Charter.

Consider amending Section 8.4.5 of the Charter to require a higher percentage of petitioning property owners, and recommend the change to the City Council for approval.

Motion to approve recommending a change in section 8.4.5 of the Charter with respect to the percentage of property owners required to file a petition opposing a Council initiated improvement project.