MARSHALL — The city of Marshall is looking at assessing property owners for sanitary sewer lines that will be replaced as part of construction on College Drive next year. On Tuesday, Marshall City Council members approved resolutions that would start the process to make the assessments possible.

A public hearing on the proposal will be held on November 12.

Marshall Public Works Director Jason Anderson said a total of $150,000 in assessed costs was estimated to replace sanitary sewer service lines affected by construction.

The sewer line replacement would be done as part of major reconstruction of Highway 19 (College Drive) in Marshall. The Minnesota Department of Transportation plans to start construction on that project next year. At the same time, utility lines under the highway would also be replaced.

Council agenda materials said local costs on the Highway 19 project were estimated at roughly $8.3 million. Those costs would be shared by Marshall Municipal Utilities, the city wastewater department, the city surface water management utility, and municipal state aid funds. Marshall has also secured about $1.3 million in grant funding, and MnDOT is sharing over $1 million in grant funds for the project.

“MnDOT is covering most of the costs on this project that we would typically special assess. The costs that remain that we have the option to special assess are sanitary sewer service lines and parking lane costs along the corridor,” Anderson said. “The parking lane costs that we’re responsible for on this project are very small.”

Anderson said the council’s Public Improvement and Transportation Committee discussed the possibility of assessing part of the Highway 19 project. They decided that the city should only look at special assessments for sanitary sewer service lines, he said.

The committee also considered the circumstances of the service lines that will be affected by the highway project, council member Craig Schafer said.

“We looked at it because of kind of the uniqueness of how far it is into where the sanitary sewer runs, and that it may or may not be in the center of the street,” Schafer said. “One line might be 70 feet, and the other line 30 feet.”

However, he said, “People aren’t going to be considered differently just because they’re on one side of the project or another. It’ll be fair and equitable.”

Council members were presented with two resolutions related to the project – one ordering a report on the proposed improvement, and one calling for a public hearing.

“The purpose of these resolutions – we’re all well aware of the project and our cooperation with MnDOT, but if we are going to special assess any of the costs, then we need to take some of these steps,” Anderson said.

Council members approved both resolutions in a single vote. A public hearing on the improvement project will be held November 12.