CJ city councilors discuss AFD methodology
From our weekly issue dated August 26, 2009
Members of the Cave Junction City Council huddled around a table on Monday evening, Aug. 24 during a workshop regarding a pair of Advanced Financing Districts (AFD).
Nine citizens attended the workshop at one point or another, but public participation was prohibited.
One AFD was for sewer infrastructure improvements to N. Old Stage Road. The other was for a sewage lift station and other improvements near Schumacher Street.
Councilors reviewed stacks of paperwork as City Recorder Jim Polk explained the methodology he used to develop the proposed AFDs.
Polk said that the city has never implemented an AFD before. Polk added that he examined the AFD policies of five other cities, all of which were different.
“We’re inventing the wheel,” he said.
The methodology used by Polk was calculated based on property acreage, rather than development potential. If a property isn’t developed or connected to the infrastructure, the AFD reimbursement requirement would expire after 10 years.
There would be no cost for properties not annexed into the city, Polk said. Properties with existing septic systems don’t have to connect to the infrastructure in order to be annexed, unless the system fails.
Properties beyond city limits are not allowed to be connected to the city’s sewer system, Polk said.
Polk said the Schumacher AFD is a combination of three separate citizen requests. The process has been driven by applicants, he said.
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The Schumacher AFD includes a reimbursement for a $140,000 lift station that can serve 200 housing units. Polk said the total reimbursable amount for the AFD is approximately $532,816. That cost would be divided between 153 current lots, many of which have development potential.
Of those lots, 125 already involve home sites, Polk said. The Pomeroy Park subdivision has 60 of the lots, 40 sites are included in Illinois River Estates, and 25 are in the Vineyard Place subdivision.
The reimbursement costs were calculated on a per acre basis, unless maximum development already has been reached, Polk said. In those instances, the calculation is done on a per lot basis, though Polk said that rate is typically similar to the per acreage figure.
Pomeroy Park and Vineyard Place are at maximum development, Polk said.
Polk advised councilors that he will prepare for them a revised optional exhibit list with a spreadsheet before the matter is discussed during the council’s Sept. 14 meeting. Mayor Don Moore cautioned councilors that AFD issues can be contentious.
“Any way we do this, we’re going to have some unhappy campers,” Moore said.
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