HomeMy WebLinkAboutItem 09 Property Line Adjustment at the South 18th Street City of Springfield Operations Complex AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY Meeting Date: 1/21/2014
Meeting Type: Regular Meeting
Staff Contact/Dept.: Len Goodwin/DPW Chris Moorhead/DPW
Staff Phone No: X3685/X1011
Estimated Time: 10 Minutes S P R I N G F I E L D
C I T Y C O U N C I L
Council Goals: Maintain and Improve
Infrastructure and Facilities
ITEM TITLE: PROPERTY LINE ADJUSTMENT AT THE SOUTH 18TH STREET CITY OF SPRINGFIELD OPERATIONS COMPLEX
ACTION REQUESTED:
Authorize City staff to complete an ownership transfer of 1.6 acres of land, deeded
to the “City of Springfield”, to the Springfield Utility Board, as the Springfield
Utility Board is currently occupying the property. This will be accomplished by the process of Property Line Adjustment (PLA). Authorize the City Manager to sign
the PLA Deeds, Agreements, and Easements as necessitated by this Adjustment.
ISSUE STATEMENT: It has been brought to light that facilities owned and operated by the Springfield Utility Board (SUB), as well as City of Springfield facilities, are occupying land
deeded specifically to the “City of Springfield”. It is proposed that a transfer of
property to SUB through PLA will correct this occupation and ownership oversight.
ATTACHMENTS: 1. Council Briefing Memorandum and associated maps/documents
DISCUSSION/ FINANCIAL
IMPACT:
At the South 18th Street complex, there are several City of Springfield and SUB
facilities. All of these facilities occupy 2 existing parcels of land, a SUB owned
parcel and a City owned parcel. These 2 parcels are also known as Tax Lots 500 (City) and 600 (SUB), of Lane County Assessor’s Map 17-03-36-00. As the parcels boundaries exist today, SUB’s facilities occupy a portion of the City parcel.
This situation’s existence is historic in nature. According to SUB records, a
Municipal Power Switching Station has existed on the parcel since 1952. A record
found in the City Surveyor’s archive shows Municipal Power and City Street Department using the parcel at least as long ago as 1960, as demonstrated on a
sketch map of the Springfield Industrial Tract dated Feb. 1960. At present, both the
City and SUB desire to correct the ownership of the real property as occupied by each separate agency. City staff has been working with SUB staff to determine the
most equitable process to this end. Therefore, it is proposed that a Property Line
Adjustment survey is performed which will change the boundaries between the City owned parcel, Tax Lot 500, and the SUB owned parcel, Tax Lot 600. More detail
on this process is included within the attached Council Briefing Memorandum. There are no significant financial impacts associated with OPTION 3 recommended
by staff, apart from the indirect impacts predicated by (1) the transfer of land from the City to SUB, (2) the changing of maintenance responsibilities for a roadway,
and (3) the staff time required to perform the Property Line Adjustment Survey and
preparation of associated documentation. The performance of the proposed Property Line Adjustment will result in a transfer of 71,382 square feet (1.6 acres)
of City property to SUB. The roadway surface of South 18th Street, which is a
vacated street, is currently being fully maintained by the City. After performance of the action proposed herein, the new boundary between City and SUB parcels will
split the roadway evenly, and the maintenance responsibilities and cost will be split
evenly
M E M O R A N D U M City of Springfield
Date: 12/6/2013
To: Gino Grimaldi, City Manager COUNCIL
BRIEFING
MEMORANDUM
From: Len Goodwin, DPW Director
Chris Moorhead, City Surveyor
Subject: PROPERTY LINE ADJUSTMENT AT THE SOUTH 18TH STREET CITY OF SPRINGFIELD
OPERATIONS COMPLEX
ISSUE: It has been brought to light that facilities owned and operated by the Springfield Utility
Board (SUB), as well as City of Springfield facilities, are occupying land deeded specifically to the “City of Springfield”. It is proposed that a transfer of property to SUB through Property Line Adjustment will correct this occupation and ownership oversight.
COUNCIL GOALS / MANDATE:
Maintain and Improve Infrastructure and Facilities
In order to effectively maintain, improve, and manage City facilities, the ownership of the
underlying land has to be accurately known and managed. In this case, it had been accepted
common practice that the City of Springfield and the Springfield Utility Board both have “ownership” of property which is deeded to the “City of Springfield”, and operate facilities and
infrastructure that occupy said property. The practice of “sharing” property has become more cumbersome for both the City and SUB, especially when the need to clarify asset management and liability, among other issues, is of importance. Both the City of Springfield and SUB need
to actively manage these City owned properties that contain Springfield Utility Board facilities, and ownership should be transferred to the Springfield Utility Board as appropriate, when it is clear that the occupation dictates. This management has been ongoing, in most cases occupation
and use is very easy to determine, and when appropriate transfer out of City “ownership” is nearly complete, as many properties have been addressed in the recent past. The property at
South 18th Street that is the subject of this issue is the first parcel that has been found to be a
single parcel that is actively occupied by both the Springfield Utility Board and the City of Springfield, and proper maintenance, improvement, and management of City facilities has
dictated splitting the property based on historic occupation and use.
BACKGROUND: The City of Springfield obtained the property that is located adjacent to South 18th Street, and south of South A Street, in 1948. At the time of this acquisition, the
parcel was known as the “Springfield Industrial Tract”. Within the next 10-15 years, the design and construction of South A Street was completed, Municipal Power was formed and an electric facility was built at the site, Bonneville Power built a substation at the site, and there was quick
growth of industrial development in the vicinity. The City sectioned off portions of the Industrial Tract which drove some of this development, including portions to Bonneville Power for the substation and portions to wood and other industrial product manufacturers. According to City
Engineer sketch maps dated 1960 and 1959 found in the City Surveyor’s archive files, the Municipal Power facility and City Street Department were located in the same locations as City
and SUB facilities exist today. See Attachments 1and 2. Currently, the City retains ownership
of a remaining piece of the Industrial Tract. Within this remainder parcel, in the general location of the original Municipal Power facility, the Springfield Utility Board has water and power
facilities and the City maintenance (Operations) facilities occupy the area of the original City
Street Department (see attachments).
Attachment 1, Page 1 of 32
As SUB expanded on this site, modernized facilities, and built more facilities to meet growth, neither the City nor SUB focused attention on a transfer of property from the City to SUB to
conform to the changes in use.
A Property Line Adjustment is proposed to remedy this situation. This will be accomplished by
adjusting the property line that lies between the SUB owned property which is Tax Lot 600, and
the City owned property which is Tax Lot 500, both of Lane County Assessor’s Map No. 17-03-36-00. See Attachment 3 for detail on current Tax Lot layout, and location of facilities as
demonstrated by aerial photo overlay. The new boundary line will be located so that it splits the
occupation and use by both the City and SUB, as presently utilized. Specifically, the south line of SUB’s Tax Lot 600 will be moved south to encompass a road used exclusively by SUB, and
to run along an existing fenceline. The east line of SUB’s Tax Lot 600 will be moved east to encompass SUB’s buildings, to the centerline of the existing private paved access road (South 18th Street as vacated in 1998) to reflect that this Street is equally used by the City and SUB, and
by the public to access these facilities. See Attachment 4 showing the adjusted property line, and location of facilities as demonstrated by aerial photo overlay. A Preliminary Property Line Adjustment Map has been prepared by the City Surveyor’s office, which details issues and
solutions raised by this proposal, and these are discussed in the following paragraph. See Attachment 5.
Additional documents would be required to complete the Property Line Adjustment, and drafts have been prepared. These include a new Access and Utility Agreement related to the vacated
South 18th Street (See Attachment 6-1 through 6-10), a Utility Easement covering Stormwater
and Wastewater lines (See Attachment 7-1 through 7-3), and Property Line Adjustment Deeds for the City and SUB adjusted properties(See Attachment 8-1 through 8-11). South 18th Street,
when vacated in 1998, reverted to full City ownership and was made a private street with a
Grant of Easement given to SUB to use the street. The City was fully responsible for maintenance. By moving the boundary line to the centerline of the street, the Grant of Easement
needs to be replaced with an Agreement in which: each party is now given equal ownership and
use of the private right of way; use by the public is recognized; use and ownership of utilities within the street are addressed; and maintenance is now equally split, or split according to use,
between both parties. The Utility Easement covering Stormwater and Wastewater lines is created because there are Wastewater lines that will be crossing SUB property, as created per the Adjustment, which are in the vicinity of the south line of Tax Lot 600. It should be noted that a
SUB building inadvertently was built covering a small portion of a City Wastewater line which is within the boundary of this new easement, and the easement also has specific language
rectifying this oversight at a future date. Lastly, the new deeds for each Adjusted property are
prepared, executed by both parties, and would be recorded to legalize the new boundaries.
There has been ongoing discussion and coordination between City and SUB staff in order to
determine the most equitable and fiscally responsible method to solve this ownership issue.
There are a few options that could be utilized.
OPTION 1: First, the situation could be left “as-is”. In the many years that dual agency occupation has existed, it does not appear that there have been any negative impacts from the City’s, or SUB’s points of view. SUB has been able to obtain building permits, expand facilities
as necessary, and treat the land as their own. But all of this has been able to happen only
because it was “believed” that SUB was occupying their owned parcel, both in the eyes of the City and SUB. Impacts: There would be no, or very minimal, cost or effort to leave as is. But,
other impacts are significant. SUB has high value facilities on the property. SUB is highly motivated to correct the ownership so that they have full legal holding. Also, future improvement or development would require both agency’s review and approval in a shared
property ownership situation, which is troublesome. Therefore this option is not recommended by staff.
Attachment 1, Page 2 of 32
OPTION 2: Contract locally to have a Property Line Adjustment performed. A Professional
Land Surveyor is required to prepare the Survey and deeds which are required to complete a
Property Line Adjustment, so the City and SUB could contract with a local surveying firm to complete this process. It is likely that the cost for the contract would be $10,000 to $15,000,
which would be for labor, materials, and include all application and recording fees. Impacts:
There is a fiscal impact to both the City and SUB, and there is also an impact on staff time and effort to manage the contract. The City and SUB will be positively impacted by correcting the
ownership by having full control of their separate facilities, and control of future development.
The City will be impacted because it will no longer have full responsibility of maintenance of South 18th Street; it will be shared between the City and SUB. This option is one of the staff
recommended options.
OPTION 3: The City Surveyor and staff could complete the Property Line Adjustment in house
on behalf of the City and SUB. City staff (as well as SUB staff) has already done extensive coordination, collaboration, and research in order to pinpoint the issues and determine best courses of action, and staff have prepared the preliminary documents to demonstrate the issues.
It would be proposed that since the City is donating the staff time to complete the Survey, SUB would pay all the application and recording fees, which are estimated to be around $1,000.
Impacts: Lower cost than OPTION 2 as Property Line adjustment would be performed by City
staff rather than consultant. Fiscal impact for SUB would remain the same. . Also, as a show of cooperation between the City and SUB, sharing expertise that City staff has in preparation of the
Property Line Adjustment, this positively impacts the relationship between the City and SUB.
This option is one of the staff recommended options.
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Staff recommends that staff be directed to proceed with OPTION 3, in which the City Surveyor will continue working with SUB to complete the Property Line Adjustment Survey, preparation
of deeds, agreements and easements as required, and recording of all documents resulting in the ownership transfer of the land that SUB currently uses, into their name. While the collaboration and performance of this transfer of ownership is an important aspect of strengthening the
relationship between the City and SUB, by further providing a cost savings with City staff completing the work, strengthens the relationship further and shows fiscal responsibility. In
addition, the City Survey staff has the time and resources to complete the work
Attachment 1, Page 3 of 32
Attachment 1, Page 4 of 32
Attachment 1, Page 5 of 32
ShopOps.
Op
e
r
a
t
i
o
n
s
(s
h
a
r
e
d
)
P
o
l
i
c
e
&
O
p
e
r
a
t
i
o
n
s
SUB
Shop
SUB Water
Service Center
Operations Vehicle Shed
City Operations
Dept.
Oces
(TL 500)
Taxlot 500
City of SpringeldTaxlot 600
Springeld Utility Board
There are no warranties that accompany this product. Users assume all responsibility forany loss or damage arising from any error, omission, or positional inaccuracy of this product.
0 200 400 Ft100
Ta
x
l
o
t
s
1
7
0
3
3
6
0
0
0
0
5
0
0
a
n
d
0
6
0
0
-
C
u
r
r
e
n
t
C
o
n
d
i
t
i
o
n
s
Attachment 1, Page 6 of 32
ShopOps.
Op
e
r
a
t
i
o
n
s
(s
h
a
r
e
d
)
P
o
l
i
c
e
&
O
p
e
r
a
t
i
o
n
s
SUB
Shop
SUB Water
Service Center
Operations Vehicle Shed
City Operations
Dept.
Oces
(TL 500)
Proposed Taxlot 500
as adjustedProposed Taxlot 600
as adjusted
There are no warranties that accompany this product. Users assume all responsibility forany loss or damage arising from any error, omission, or positional inaccuracy of this product.
0 200 400 Ft100
Ta
x
l
o
t
s
1
7
0
3
3
6
0
0
0
0
5
0
0
a
n
d
0
6
0
0
-
P
r
o
p
o
s
e
d
A
d
j
u
s
t
m
e
n
t
Attachment 1, Page 7 of 32
Attachment 1, Page 8 of 32
Attachment 1, Page 9 of 32
Attachment 1, Page 10 of 32
Attachment 1, Page 11 of 32
Attachment 1, Page 12 of 32
Attachment 1, Page 13 of 32
Attachment 1, Page 14 of 32
Attachment 1, Page 15 of 32
Attachment 1, Page 16 of 32
Attachment 1, Page 17 of 32
Attachment 1, Page 18 of 32
REVISED: April, 2012
PUBLIC UTILITY EASEMENT
Tax Map & Lot Numbers Map 17033600, Lot 500 and 600 (on the date of execution)
THIS INDENTURE MADE and entered into this day of , 2013 , by and
between the City of Springfield, acting by and through its SPRINGFIELD UTILITY BOARD , hereinafter referred to as the
Grantor(s), and the CITY OF SPRINGFIELD, a municipal corporation, in Lane County, Oregon, hereinafter
referred to as Grantee.
WITNESSETH: In consideration of the acceptance by the Grantee, and for Grantee’s use or holding of said
easement for present or future public use, Grantor(s) hereby grants, bargains, sells and conveys unto
the said Grantee, a perpetual easement variable feet in width, together with the right to go upon
said easement area hereinafter described in Exhibit “A” for the purpose of constructing, reconstructing,
maintaining and using PUBLIC UTILITIES, which may hereafter be installed on the following described
property, to wit:
SEE EXHIBIT “A” and EXHIBIT “B” (detail map)
ATTACHED HERETO AND INCORPORATED HEREIN BY REFERENCE TO HAVE AND TO HOLD said easement unto said Grantee and Grantee’s heirs, successors and assigns
forever.
ALSO, it is expressly understood by both Grantor and Grantee that as of the date of this document there exists a structure (shop building) that encroaches into herein created Public Utility Easement, said
encroachment covering approximately 300 square feet at the southeast corner of said structure. It is further understood that said encroachment may remain until such time as the existing shop building is destroyed in
its entirety, and no further expansion of the existing shop building within the encroachment area is permitted; provided however Grantor may rebuild in the same location as before and continue utilizing
encroachment area if Grantor and Grantee mutually agree upon the relocation of Public Utilities within the encroachment area to another suitable location at the Grantor’s expense.
Provided further that any major modification to the existing shop building shall occur only to the North
and/or West of the building. It is explicitly understood that the proposed Truck Bay addition is not a major modification. Except for maintenance or repairs necessitated by the actions of the Grantor, Grantee shall
bear all maintenance and repair costs for the storm drain and sanitary sewer facilities located in the Easement.
THE CONSIDERATION for this conveyance is other than monetary. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the Grantors above named have hereunto set their hands and seals on , 2013 .
SIGNATURE: , SPRINGFIELD UTILITY BOARD (TITLE & COMPANY)
PRINT NAME:
STATE OF OREGON
COUNTY OF LANE
This instrument was acknowledged before me on , 2013 by
as of .
Notary Public for Oregon
THE CONVEYANCE set forth in this instrument conveying title or interest to the City of Springfield, a
Municipal Corporation of the State of Oregon, is hereby approved, and the title or interest conveyed therein is hereby accepted.
CITY OF SPRINGFIELD
By: , 2013 Chris Moorhead - City of Springfield Surveyor Date
RETURN TO: CITY OF SPRINGFIELD PUBLIC WORKS DEPT. - 225 FIFTH ST. – SPRINGFIELD, OREGON 97477
Attachment 1, Page 19 of 32
Attachment 1, Page 20 of 32
Attachment 1, Page 21 of 32
Attachment 1, Page 22 of 32
Attachment 1, Page 23 of 32
Attachment 1, Page 24 of 32
Attachment 1, Page 25 of 32
Attachment 1, Page 26 of 32
Attachment 1, Page 27 of 32
Attachment 1, Page 28 of 32
Attachment 1, Page 29 of 32
Attachment 1, Page 30 of 32
Attachment 1, Page 31 of 32
Attachment 1, Page 32 of 32