Coconino County Finance Department Special Districts Coordinator 219 E. Cherry Ave. Flagstaff, AZ 86001-4695 Phone :(928) 779-6576 Fax: (928) 779-6893 E-Mail: landreani@coconino.az.gov January 23, 2006 Dear North Stardust & Antelope Lane County Improvement District Member, The results are in from the road improvement “election.” The two options on the ballot included Option 1, Terminate the Project, or Option 2, Improve Only Stardust to the County Road Standard. Option 1 (terminate) received twelve (12) votes and Option 2, Improve Only Stardust, received forty-four (44) votes. Therefore, 78% of the respondents voted to continue forward by only improving North Stardust Trail to the County Road Standard. Given the results of the election, the following steps will be taken to prepare for securing the rights -of-way along North Stardust. First Step: Finalize the engineering associated with Stardust Trail. This will involve conducting some level of potholing along the road to more clearly identify the location and depth of utilities along the roadway. The number one issue resulting in unforeseen costs of road projects is mis-located utilities. This step is vital to understanding the cost and rights-of-way implications related to any utility relocations that may be identified. In addition to the potholing, the County Public Works Engineering and Construction Management team will conduct a due diligence process by reviewing the plans to be sure they meet County Specifications. These two sub-steps are required so that the construction cost estimate can be finalized and the location of needed rights-of-way can be placed into legal descriptions for future use by the County Right-of-way Agent. Second Step: Prepare assessment methodology options. The assessment methodology involves determining the best approach for assessing the project costs to each of the parcels within the district. There are many ways to “split the pie” so to speak, which involve consideration of many factors. For example, costs may be divided evenly between parcels, divided on the basis of the acreage in a parcel, divided on the basis of road frontage, etc. By law, the District Engineer is the person that makes a recommendation on th e assessment methods to be used, and the Board of the District holds a public hearing to adopt (or not) the Engineer’s recommended methodology. A meeting with the district will be held to review the assessment methodology options and discuss their implications once the costs are known (prior to the hearing). Third Step: Prepare the rights-of-way documents and begin discussions with the affected property owners along North Stardust Trail. As the engineers complete the engineering, they will be preparing legal descriptions for each parcel that requires a right-of-way (we believe this involves ALL parcels along North Stardust). The legal descriptions will be provided to the County Right-of-Way Agent, who in turn will prepare the actual legal documents. The plan is to share the legal document and the results of the assessment methodology with each parcel owner so that they understand the expected cost as they consider providing the right-of-way. Some property owners may insist on being compensated for their right-of-way and this would in turn raise the cost of the assessment for all district members. Once we have spoken with all property owners, we can report back to the district as to any cost implications or issues related to securing the rights-of-way.
Prior to moving to the next phase, which is the scheduling of the Board of Directors’ consideration of the Resolution of Intention, all rights-of-way must be secured and the costs finalized. The resolution of intention, in effect, authorizes the engineer to finalize the bid package, prepare the ordering of the work documents, and finalize the assessment documents. If the time between completing the engineering and the construction of the project goes beyond a reasonable time frame (+- 18 months), then the engineering and cost estimates must be reviewed before moving forward with construction so that any cost impacts and changes in the road grades can be addressed. As you can see, this process is not simple and it involves a number of steps that will take place after the three outlined above. Our intention is to keep all district members informed as we move through each step so that key issues and costs can be discussed. Two-way communications will be essential. With this said, if you would like to receive updates via the internet, then please forward me an email at landreani@coconino.az.gov and I will place you on the district email list. Please note that this is a new email address. You can also review the web page for North Stardust – Antelope on the County’s Website, http://www.coconino.az.gov/roadimpdist.aspx?id=652 I’ll do my best to keep this updated. Please do not hesitate to contact me at 928-779-6576 if you have any questions about the process or the steps outlined above. Sincerely,
Lucinda Andreani Special Districts Coordinator