7 -
Present
Councilmember Rebecca Noecker, Councilmember Nelsie Yang,
Councilmember HwaJeong Kim, Councilmember Anika Bowie,
Councilmember Saura Jost, Councilmember Cheniqua Johnson and
Councilmember Matt Privratsky
LEGISLATIVE HEARING DISCUSSION ITEMS
Ratifying the Appealed Special Tax Assessment for property at 2054 LAUREL
29
AVENUE. (File No. J2516R1, Assessment No. 258562)
Assessment ratified.
Marcia Moermond, Legislative Hearing Officer: My recommendation is unchanged from
last week, which is to ratify the assessment.
Councilmember Privratsky moved approval.
Adopted
7 -
0
Yea:
Nay:
Councilmember Noecker, Councilmember Yang, Councilmember Kim,
Councilmember Bowie, Councilmember Jost, Councilmember Johnson and
Councilmember Privratsky
Ratifying the Appealed Special Tax Assessment for property at 736
OAKDALE AVENUE. (File No. VB2508, Assessment No. 258807)
38
Assessment ratified and reduced to $650.
Kent and Lee Begnaud, owners, appeared in person
Marcia Moermond, Legislative Hearing Officer: This is an assessment for a vacant
building fee covering July 8, 2024 - July 8, 2025. We are 9 months into that billable
period, where we normally don't look at prorating. This is an unusual case for these
reasons: 1) The owner's application to pull permits was misplaced at the Department of
Safety and Inspections (DSI). The owner had to follow-up to ensure the application was
found and reviewed, resulting in a 3-month delay. 2) The owner also appealed the
vacant building registration itself. At that point, I recommended a 120-day waiver,
instead of the standard 90 days, while this issue was getting sorted out. 3) Problems
with Xcel Energy also required dealing with. 4) Contractors also were not aware of the
required process of pulling permits for this type of vacant building. The building exited
the vacant building program at the beginning of April, and I am recommending that the
assessment be decreased from $2,618 to $1,309. This accounts for the 3-month
delay. The owners will testify that the time of the year magnified the delay, because of
the timing of the construction season and the consequences of delaying opening the
business.
Kent Begnaud: We knew the building was vacant when we bought it, but because I am
not familiar with real estate, I didn't know there was an assessed fee each year for it
being vacant. Neither our seller or the realtor let us know. We got the fee notice a few
months in while we were fixing up the building. We are hoping the fee can be removed
completely. We were still taking care of the property and fixing it up while we were
waiting on Xcel to get the electricity running. We were also paying fees on the loan we
got to do our remodel.
Lee Begnaud: I spoke with DSI Director Angie Wiese about all the roadblocks we
faced. Her email to me expressed support for ordinance changes to give staff more