CC_Minutes_2024_0226 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

Regular City Council Meeting Monday, February 26, 2024 Page 7 Mr. Heffron indicated he understood that in approximately ten years, a new system will need to be put in place, but they do like the well water and know the responsibilities and costs of maintaining the well. He asked the City to possibly grandfather that well in, in addition to in the future when the well will need replacing. Councilmember Etten asked how far back from the street is the house set back. Mr. Daire indicated it was set back around 350 feet from the street and the well is approximately midway between the house and the setback. Mrs. Karis Heffron Ms. Heffron explained as the wells fail, people will need to connect to the City sewer so she was not sure why there would be a date needed for connection. She was not sure why the City would need to force that timeframe onto people. Councilmember Schroeder wondered if there is anything the City can do to help someone with costs associated with hooking up to City sewer. Councilmember Etten wondered if there was precedent for grandfathering certain wells as has been done in other cities. Mr. Freihammer thought cost effectiveness could be considered and he remembered that when he worked for Brainerd,there were properties given special consideration and if Roseville wanted to do this, staff could look into setbacks or something like that. City Attorney Tierney explained if the City wants to consider some sort of exception or grandfathering, she recommends action on this item be laid over in order to take a closer look at this. One of the things she was looking at was the language in the ordinance draft which states "single family resident currently on well water but having municipal water available". Based on the testimony here, it sounds like this property was treated differently even at the time of installation for water so this property may not actually satisfy the requirements of the ordinance and may already be grandfathered in. That is just one of the hypothetical things that should be looked into. She was always concerned about the law of unintended consequences and is less concerned about treating similarly situated property differently because the City will be thoughtful about the language. But if there is a property that is four hundred feet back and one that is three hundred feet back or other obstacles, ideally the Council would have staff take a hard look. She thought staff could bring some language back after research is done. Councilmember Schroeder suggested this be tabled to allow time for staff to look at other ways to manage this.