7.2. SR 07-15-1996** ITEM 7. 2**
ity of
iver
TO:
FROM:
DATE:
SUBJECT:
MEMORANDUM
Mayor and City Council
Steven B. Ach, City Planne.r~~~
July 15, 1996
Construction of Trails
within Developments
Background
In the past, the City has been following in the footsteps of residential development
to complete the planned trail corridors as approved as part of the plat.
Unfortunately, the construction of these trails has lagged further and further behind
to a point where it became a "after the fact" improvement and a surprise to the
homeowners that purchased homes adjacent to these trail corridors. I believe a
well-planned and implemented trail system is very important element of the park
and recreation system. Trails and sidewalks provide a safe means of pedestrian
movement between neighborhoods and to other destination points in the
community.
Therefore, to insure that the trail system is built according to the plan, staff will
begin making sure that all trails that are approved as part of a subdivision be
installed along with all the other improvements (i.e., streets and utilities) of the
development. Since the City does not receive a trail fee and it has been the City's
past practice to finance and install trails, the cost of these trails will have to be
taken from the park dedication fund to reimburse the developer's contractor once the
trails have been completed.
By having the trails installed as part of the improvements to the subdivision, all
home buyers moving into a particular development will be fully aware of the trails
in the area. It has been standard practice to have sidewalks installed as part of the
public improvements and assessed back to the developer. These sidewalks are
typically installed along collector routes and have not presented a problem in the
past. There will probably be three or four residential projects this year that will
require trail construction as part of the overall improvements. Staff will monitor the
process of having these trails installed and reimbursing the developer for this cost
throughout this construction year.
There is really no action the Council needs to take on this issue; rather, staff wanted
to update the Council on this issue since it has come up several times in the past
couple of years. Staff would be happy to update the Council towards the end of this
construction season to let you know how this approach of trail construction is
working out.
s:\council\trails.doc
13065 Orono Parkway · P.O. Box 490 · Elk River, MN 55330 · (612) 441-7420 · Fax: (612) 441-7425