Group Looking For Ways To Help Five Mile Area In/Around: Five Mile Prairie

Increasing the real estate excise tax and imposing developer fees are among the recommendations of a committee looking for ways to aid a beleaguered Five Mile Prairie.

The prairie is suffering from “significant infrastructure shortcomings,” said the committee in an interim report to City Council late last month.

“Our review … revealed that the current growth needs will require considerable capital, even with state or federal aid.”

Council members in May imposed a temporary moratorium on new applications to build houses on the prairie. During the moratorium, a committeee is looking for ways to pay for improvements to roads and other services on the prairie.

The committeee hasn’t completed its report, but already it has made recommendations to city council, including:

In-depth studies of facility and infrastructure needs;

Increasing the real estate excise tax from 1.53 percent to 1.78 percent, which would be used to pay for growth all over the city;

Laws that allow the city to collect voluntary developer or impact fees to pay for road improvements. These laws would be used temporarily while the city drafts laws for mandatory impact fees.

The committeee now is looking at prioritizing improvements such as extending water and sewer service, said Councilwoman Phyllis Holmes, who sits on the Five Mile committeee.

“We’ve got to try and focus on the immediate infrastructure needs,” Holmes said.

Five Mile residents for years have complained about poor roads leading to and on top of the prairie, waterpressure problems and slow fire protection response.

They say problems are bound to get worse as prime chunks of prairie real estate are developed. Right now, there are about 500 homes and plans for at least 700 more. A fully developed prairie could have 6,000 homes and nearly 15,000 people.

The prairie’s three main roads - Five Mile, Austin and Cedar - have only two lanes and lack curbs and sidewalks. Improvements could cost nearly $6 million.

Rich Fink, committeee member and Five Mile resident, said despite the fact there isn’t enough money to solve all the woes, the moratorium and the committeee have focused sorely needed attention on the prairie.

“It’s put focus on the problems up there,” Fink said. “But it’ll be years before we can come up with money to pay” for all the necessary improvements.

The study should be completed in September.

Hearing on agenda A hearing on the proposed increase in the real estate excise tax is on the agenda for Monday’s City Council meeting. The council meeting begins at 6 p.m. at City Hall.