Sec. 714.106. - Initiation of neighborhood assessment program.

Citizens of the City may petition the Council, a committee thereof or any Council member to initiate and introduce legislation to adopt a N.A.P. within a particular Neighborhood where authorized by a specific Program Area in the following manner: (a) Petition. The preliminary Petition must follow the form on file with the Legislative Services Division corresponding to the particular Program Area ( as may be updated administratively by the Office of General Counsel) and must contain a fact-based, rough estimate of the Cost of providing Improvements and of the Assessment to be levied against each property within the Neighborhood as set forth in the Petition. The Petition shall be filed with the Chief of Legislative Services along with a filing fee calculated per lot as found in www.coj.net/fees , parcel or other unit of property contained within the Neighborhood as petitioned not to exceed as found in www.coj.net/fees . The Chief of Legislative Services shall provide a copy of the Petition to the Office of General Counsel for a determination of whether the Petition is substantially complete and sufficient, and upon such determination shall inform the Petitioners' spokesperson or agent and the Neighborhood's Council Member(s) of such fact; but, if incomplete or insufficient shall otherwise take no further action until the Petition is amended and thereafter determined to be substantially complete and sufficient. (b) Determination of Assent. The Council may find, at its next regularly scheduled public meeting following the determination of sufficiency and completeness, that a preliminary petition proposing a N.A.P. represents the will and assent of the owners of properties within a Neighborhood if the petition demonstrates: (1) The petitioners comprise at least two-thirds (66.67 percent) of the owners of properties located within a Neighborhood presumed by the petition to be Benefited by the provision of the Improvements, where each parcel, lot or other unit of real property having a separate real estate folio number or tax identification number shall be considered to be owned by only one person for purposes of this subsection; or, (2) The assessed value of the properties owned by the petitioners comprise at least two-thirds (66.67 percent) of the total assessed value of all properties located within a Neighborhood presumed by the petition to be Benefited by the provision of the Improvements, with reference to the Property Appraiser's assessment roll for the current tax year; or, (3) The attainment of some other percentage, assent criteria or assent formula as may be set forth for a particular Program Area. If the next regularly scheduled Council meeting is ten days or less from the date petition sufficiency and completeness is determined, the Council shall consider the item at the second regularly scheduled Council meeting following such determination. (c) Preliminary Study. Upon determining a preliminary petition represents the will and assent of a Neighborhood, in addition to any preliminary study requirements specified in a particular Program Area, the Council may by written resolution call for the City's Public Works Department (or other appropriate City department, agency or agent of the City) to make a study of the accuracy of the petition and of the feasibility of the proposed N.A.P. If the study finds a proposed N.A.P. is not feasible or that either the Costs or the Assessments are at least 25 percent greater than the petition's estimate of same, then the Council need not proceed further. If the study finds a N.A.P. is feasible but the likely Costs or Assessments are at least 25 percent greater than the petition's estimate, the citizens may petition the Council again as set forth hereinabove but using the study's Cost and/or Assessment estimates and without paying a second filing fee. The Public Works Department shall make and keep accurate records of its direct and incidental costs related to the conduct of the study as these will be added to the Costs associated with the N.A.P. in the event it is adopted by the Council. In the event that the N.A.P. is determined to not be feasible, or the Neighborhood withdraws its assent to do the project, the costs generated by the preliminary study shall be assessed against those petitioners on a pro rata basis. (d) Legislation. Assuming the preliminary study finds a petition is feasible and estimates of Cost and Assessment are accurate, the Council may adopt legislation and take further action to set up a N.A.P. as provided hereafter. In the event, for good cause shown, the Council does not adopt legislation to set up a N.A.P., or delays adoption for a period of more than one year, or declines to make a contribution to a N.A.P. which is authorized for a Program Area, the entire petition filing fee shall be returned. Notwithstanding, the unavailability of a City contribution shall not prohibit a Neighborhood from requesting or re-petitioning for adoption of a N.A.P. to provide Improvements without City contribution. (e) N.A.P. Performance. Once a N.A.P. has been established, the City shall undertake to complete the authorized work. However, in the event that, during the course of the N.A.P. work, the City discovers unforeseen and unexpected conditions, which interferes with the planned N.A.P. work to the extent that estimated costs for completing the Improvements increase by 25 percent or greater over the initial estimated cost, the City shall inform the Neighborhood, which shall either assent to paying the additional costs or withdraw its support, by the same percentage as is used in determining assent for the particular Program Area. If the Neighborhood withdraws its support, those property owners receiving a Benefit from the partial Improvements shall be assessed the Improvement costs expended. (Ord. 2005-157-E, § 3; Ord. 2017-665-E , § 34; Ord. 2019-321-E , § 1)