Council weighs options for Karen and Sixth Street designs as residents raise right‑of‑way concerns

Council and staff debated July 15 how the city should handle street design for Karen Avenue and Sixth Street after developers and property owners raised related costs and encroachment issues.

Public works staff said the developer for a Karen Avenue project asked the city to pay $26,000 for street design with the developer reimbursing the city; City Attorney Eric advised the city likely cannot front design costs in a way that would amount to gifting public funds or effectively lending public funds to a private party. Eric noted "if it's something that's a public works project... the city can then come back and then try to recoup some of that money," but cautioned against direct fronting of private engineering costs.

On Sixth Street, staff described drainage, elevations and right-of-way issues and presented a $60,000 engineer proposal for a full street design. Options discussed included requiring developer-provided, engineer‑stamped frontage designs; securing a late-comer or special district cost‑recovery mechanism; using deferral provisions in code; or seeking grant funding. Councilors emphasized that developers must meet city design standards and that the city should avoid repeatedly footing the bill for private development work.

Resident Dan Decker told the council a recent survey showed utility and fence encroachments and said taking five feet of his property would prevent costly frontage improvements: "Give up 5 feet... narrow that road up 5 feet. That'll solve all the issues," Decker said. Council asked staff to bring better maps and options for the next meeting to balance property impacts, rights‑of‑way needs and funding sources. No final procurement or funding decision was made at the meeting.

Next steps: Staff will prepare maps, cost estimates and options (vacation, reduced width, LID, grant-seeking, or late‑comer agreements) for council consideration at a future meeting.