Commission backs text changes to replace lease-purchase with utility main development agreements

The Stillwater Planning Commission on March 25 recommended the City Council approve a text amendment to City Code that replaces the current “lease purchase agreement” mechanism with a “utility main development agreement” for certain water and sewer mains.

David Barth of Development Services told commissioners the change addresses a problem in which the city operated and maintained infrastructure it did not own under the lease-purchase format. “We'd be cleaning it. We would be, you know, repairing it, but we don't own it,” Barth said, describing why staff proposed replacing the lease-purchase model with a development-agreement framework under which the city accepts completed mains and the developer may recoup pro rata costs when others tie on.

Barth said the proposed amendment affects larger mains (water mains typically 6 inches or larger; sewer mains typically 8 inches or larger under current code) and would leave service-line rules in place for individual home connections. He described a process in which the city accepts utilities constructed to standard and the development agreement documents cost sharing and recapture terms.

Commissioners asked clarifying questions about which pipes and situations the mechanism would apply to and whether the city would take ownership; Barth answered that the city accepts mains and would maintain them once accepted, and that the agreement provides a standardized method for cost recapture from later connections. No members of the public spoke for or against the amendment. The commission voted 4-0 to recommend approval to the City Council.