Village Considers New Zoning Fees

The May 19 Rushford Village meeting included further discussion of a new zoning fee schedule, as proposed by its Planning & Zoning Board. The draft proposal is not a final draft, but intended to serve as a starting point. The draft will be the basis for a public hearing on the fees. That hearing is slated for 6:45 pm on June 16.

The most notable changes proposed include the end of no-cost permits and the lowering of the cost threshold for project value. Currently, the village requires a permit for all construction and repair/maintenance. Any project under $10,000 has been a no charge permit. Unfortunately, this has been costly for the village in administration time and documentation, which partially prompted the review of the permitting fees. The new schedule proposes a $30 minimum for all permits up to $3,000 in project value. Projects above that value are subject to higher permitting fees. Projects started without a permit are subject to fines.

“Planning & Zoning has spent a lot of time on this,” said Councilor Mike Ebner, serving as mayor pro tem in the absence of Mayor Dennis Overland. “I think they’ve done a good job. It covers our bases pretty well.”

Following up on a permit application discussion regarding 41705 State Highway 30 last month, Zoning Administrator Jon Pettit stated he sought direction from Fillmore County and spoke with the the property owners. He added that the realtor contacted him via a letter noting that the property owners had secured a survey prior to purchasing the property. Pettit noted the survey should have accompanied the building permit application. He will issue the permit once he receives documentation for a new septic permit from the county.

Present at the meeting to provide a monthly report was Community Economic Development Associates’ specialist Jayme Longmire. She began noting that three attempts to secure grants for the generator project were unsuccessful. However, several new opportunities opening up line up well with community preparedness may assist with funding, if the village applies and is selected.

Longmire also provided a summary of the a recent housing study collaborative event put on by the Rushford Economic Development Authority. Led by rural sociologist Ben Winchester, the event brought together leadership from the village and the cities of Rushford and Peterson.

“The current housing shortage is not new or unique to our area,” noted Longmire. “We are looking at ways to start some collaboration efforts with the new administration in Rushford. We’re waiting to get some people together to talk about some more options and collaborate.”

Longmire also spoke about the revisited possibility or of using Revolving Loan Fund dollars in what she termed, “a more productive way.” The village currently has roughly $240,000 in funds provided by the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED). The funds are currently restricted to gap financing for local eligible businesses. New guidelines and an application were approved several months ago in attempt to simplfy the process and make it more enticing to businesses, but the funds continue to sit.

Now, Longmire wants to petition DEED to allow the village to use the funds for the development of infrastructure for residential housing developments. She believes this will help promote community growth, leading back to further community development opportunities and essentially pay the funds back to the village through new property development.There are still things needing to be defined according to DEED parameters and state statutes, but Longmire believes there is a good chance the village could be allowed to use the funds in this way.

“That money has been sitting there some 20 years. Yes, I’m all in favor of it,” said Councilor Bob Hart.

City Attorney Joe O’Koren noted the difficulty may lie in finding a developer with the funds available to front a development project.

“We’re trying to figure out a way to do something like this,” continued Longmire. “Many residents would see this as a great private/public partnership and show that the village is willing to invest in something that will bring more people to the area.”

“There’s a lot of doors that need to be opened yet,” cautioned Ebner. “We still need to have those conversations with Rushford, but I think you’re on the right track.”