Huntington Park residents are still uncertain if the city of Des Moines will proved street sweeping and catch basin cleaning services on their private streets.
The Des Moines City Hall was nearly standing room only at the March 8 City Council meeting. Residents from Huntington Park filled the room to support their cause.
Huntington Park is a private, age-restricted, community located just east of Marine View Dr. near S. 248th St.
“Most or our residents are retired and living on fixed incomes,” Ben Gill, the community’s finance and insurance committee chairman, said.
The agenda item to discuss the future of Huntington Park’s Surface Water Management (SWM) fees and services was sparked by a letter sent by Gill to the City Council in February. However this is not the first time this issue has come before the council. Huntington Park made the same request in 2009, but was denied.
“We’ve probably spent more than $5,400 talking about this,” said Councilman Matt Pina. Councilman Dan Caldwell agreed.
The approximate annual cost for the city to street sweep and clean the catch basins for Huntington Park would be $5,400. Although all of the Huntington Park residents pay an annual SWM fee of $150, as do all Des Moines residents, they do not receive these services because their streets are privately owned. Cumulatively the Huntington Park pays about $50,000 per year in SWM fees.
Because their streets are private each resident pays an additional fee, approximately $12 annually, to cover the small portion of road in front of their home. This fee is to cover the estimated cost of handling water run-off into the city’s storm drainage system from each privately owned portion of the street (directly in front of each residence).
The street fee is discounted by 70 percent compared to a commercial entity that may have a large parking lot or several driveways.
“They pay $150, why don’t they get street sweeping?” asked Councilwoman Jeanette Burrage.
The SWM fee that is paid by Des Moines residents covers the cost for surface water and storm water management throughout the city. This fee covers the cost for reducing pollutant discharge into local streams and the Puget Sound, drain/catch basin cleaning for all public streets, protecting and restoring the local salmon habitat and much more.
Another issue arose when City Manager Tony Piasecki explained that the $150 fee was based on a calculation off of a 2,400 sq. ft. average single-family home’s footprint; the fee assumes that all homes in Des Moines have a 2,400 sq. ft. footprint.
Gill explained that many of their lots are far less than the average and that many are duplexes and tri-plexes with very small driveways or one-car garages. Gill wants to have this fee calculation re-evaluated.
Councilwoman Carmen Scott strongly agreed, saying, “I’ve been to many homes in Huntington Park … I also think the 2,400 sq. ft. calculation is not accurate.”
Many concerns for the council came up during the discussion. Most were based around fairness for other private communities in the city.
“If you don’t charge everyone the same thing you’ll end up in the courtroom,” said Pina. “There is a price to private ownership,” he added.
It would cost approximately $20,000 for the city to provide these services for all private communities in Des Moines. However a service contract with Huntington Park would cost far less ($5,400) and would be paid for by the residents of that community.
Although this may seem like a simple solution, Councilwoman Melissa Musser said, “There are a lot of homeowners associations in Des Moines and they all need to be included and the issue fixed now.”
Both sides agreed that it was premature to make a decision and Mayor Dave Kaplan called a motion to have a discussion with Huntington Park and bring the issue back to the council in the very near future.
Gill, of Huntington Park, was pleased with the discussion at the meeting and said, “The Council was very responsive and they all had questions. The city manager, Tony Piasecki, has been very helpful and we really appreciate it.”
Piasecki has helped with getting the information that Gill needs to make his request.
According to Gill the council has not been as open to dialogue about the issue in the past and said they accomplished what they came to do at the meeting.
