Aurora staff present Arrow 70 developer reimbursement ahead of March 10 council meeting

Aurora staff presented a developer reimbursement agreement with United Properties to install larger water and sanitary sewer mains near Interstate 70 and North Powhatan Road and said the committee supported moving the item to the full City Council meeting on March 10 for consideration.

The agreement covers a 16‑inch potable water pipeline in Smith Road and a 12‑ to 15‑inch sanitary sewer line along I‑70. Jenny Winn, a utility review engineer in the Planning and Engineering Division, said the southern portion of the project will be sanitary sewer and the northern portion in Smith Road will be the 16‑inch water line. Winn said the not‑to‑exceed reimbursement amounts are $398,619.72 for about 4,500 linear feet of 16‑inch water main and $382,149.74 for about 5,200 feet of sanitary sewer, for a combined not‑to‑exceed total of $780,769.46.

Winn said the not‑to‑exceed figures represent the difference between the cost to build infrastructure sized solely for the private development and the cost to build the slightly larger facilities Aurora Water needs for regional benefit. "These not to exceed numbers represent the difference in the amount needed to construct the infrastructure only for this site and the amount needed to construct the slightly larger infrastructure that Aurora Water needs in this region, which we would consider a regional benefit," Winn said. She also said the reimbursement would include design, construction, materials, 10% contingency and a three‑year warranty, and that payouts to the developer would be made after initial acceptance and invoice review.

A committee member asked the utility how the city decides when to use developer reimbursement agreements rather than having Aurora Water construct the facilities. Winn said the Integrated Water Master Plan and the Capital Improvements Plan guide decisions about required pipe diameters and planned regional infrastructure. "If this developer is already going to put something there, if they could just do a slightly larger, we reimburse them the cost difference in size from the 8 inch to the 12 inch, for example," Winn said. She added that projects judged to be "too far out" of planned infrastructure typically are escalated to supervisors for review and may not qualify for reimbursement.

Committee members signaled support to advance the agreement to the March 10 council meeting. The committee did not record a formal motion on the transcript and no vote tally was given at the committee level; staff said the item would be moved forward for council consideration.

The committee did not approve construction on behalf of the city; the action taken at this meeting was to route the proposed reimbursement agreement to the March 10 City Council meeting for decision.

Ending: Staff will present the full reimbursement agreement and supporting invoices/estimates to the City Council on March 10; the committee directed staff to proceed with that referral.