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City of Missoula, Montana Item to be Referred to City Council Committee Committee: Conservation Committee Item: Northview Park encroachment easement Date: May 7, 2010 Prepared by: Jackie Corday Initiated by: Parks & Recreation Department & business owner Sam Caras Action Required: Approve an approximately 816 square foot encroachment easement in Northview Park for driveway and parking lot improvements on the commercial lot owned by Sam Caras (401 SW Higgins Avenue) as shown in Exhibit A (Attachment to the easement (Attachment Recommended Motion: I move the City Council approve an encroachment easement in Northview Park under the terms stated in the attached easement and as shown in Exhibit A. Timeline: Referral to committee: May 7, 2010 Committee discussion: May 12, 2010 Council action: May 17, 2010 Deadline: Background and Alternatives Explored: Sam and Jim Caras purchased the former Heinrich Floral building this spring to use for their property management business. When the floral shop opened in 1978, the parking lot of the business encroached into the 20 foot wide portion of Northview Park as shown in Attachment The parking use of the Park occurred without any formal written agreement between the property owner and the City until 1999, when the latest buyer of the business, Peter Tucker, obtained an Encroachment Permit from the City. The permit allowed Mr. Tucker to use approximately 816 square feet of the Park for driveway access and parking for the business, as shown in the attached Exhibit A. The permit is revocable by the City upon giving 30 days written notice. The Caras' desire to continue occupying the encroached parking and driveway area without worrying about the possibility of the permit being revoked. The template for the attached easement is the recent Whitaker Park encroachment easement granted to Sarah Perry late last year for her side yard. However, unlike the Perry easement that allowed Ms. Perry to permanently exclude the public from the encroachment area since it served as her side yard, the terms of this easement do not allow the public to be excluded. The following is a section from the easement that explains the situation: "The Grantee shall only use the Easement Area for driveway access and parking. Structures are prohibited within the Easement Area. The Grantee cannot exclude the public from continuing to use the 20 foot wide portion of the Park to access the Park and ---PAGE BREAK--- SW Higgins. No fencing shall be placed within or along the Easement Area and signs such as "private property" shall not be installed that exclude the public or communicate the area is private in any way. The 20 foot wide corridor currently is infrequently used by the public to access the Park, and a more desirable future trail location has been identified to the east of the Property off Northview Drive. However, the City reserves the right to install a non-motorized access trail within the 20 foot wide portion of the Park if needed to serve residents of the area in the future. The City will consult with Grantee regarding the design and placement of any such trail in order to minimize impacts upon Grantee's use of the Easement Area." The price for the easement ($5,000) was based upon the appraisal for the commercial property, the former Heinrich Floral site. For both the encroachment easements granted to the Dvoraks and Sarah Perry, we accepted a price at 50% of the appraised value because they are easements (verses fee simple interest) with restrictions that prevent any structures. In this case, the easement benefits commercial property with a higher value than residential, but we also accepted 50% of appraised value because we are retaining public access. The Missoula Parks Board will review the easement and vote on a recommendation to Council at their May 11th meeting. Financial Implications: The Caras' will pay $5,000 for the easement, which will be deposited into the Farviews/Pattee Canyon cash-in-lieu of parks account to be used for park improvements in this neighborhood. They are solely responsible for maintaining the driveway and parking lot improvements. Attachments: 1. Map of the area 2. Exhibit A (legal description of the easement area) 3. Final Easement