At the September 19 meeting of the Fillmore County Planning Commission a public hearing was held on a zoning ordinance amendment to Section 604.05, Performance Standards in the Ag District.
Zoning Administrator Cristal Adkins stated the current requirement, that new dwellings can not be constructed on land with a Crop Equivalency Rating (CER) of greater than 65, has been discussed and questioned over and over during the 15 years that she’s been here. At the last meeting of the Planning Commission a motion was made to have a public hearing on the removal of the restriction. She added there are a lot of places where the imagery does not correctly show the location of the poorest land.
Other setbacks and guidelines listed under Performance Standards will remain in place. This will only eliminate 604.05 (9), the CER greater than 65 restriction in the current ordinance. Notice of this public hearing was sent to all city and township clerks.
Chairman Gary Ruskell stated that most of the variances approved by the Board of Adjustment are granted to family members that want to build a dwelling on family property, where their chosen location happens to have a CER rating over 65. He added that other protections to limit the number of houses in the Ag District will still be in place.
Andy Bisek compared the amount of Ag land that may be lost to agriculture with the construction of a large solar farm to the amount that may be lost to the construction of new houses, suggesting new houses will take much less. Adkins said she has been asked how a wedding venue can be allowed on cropland and not a house. She continued that the soil type could require a house to be built 50 to 60 feet in another direction when it is more reasonable to be built a little ways over where the CER is greater than 65.
Adkins made it clear that rural home owners will be required to sign a risk agreement detailing sites, smells, and sounds in the Ag District, that one wouldn’t have to deal with in the city. The agreement will be recorded with the deed. The intention is to make the homeowner more aware of farming activities that will continue nearby.
Richard Junge, Bristol Township chairman, spoke in favor of the elimination of the CER requirement. He said it will be good to allow more people in our community, it will increase the tax base and help school districts. There were no other comments from the public.
Duane Bakke expressed his concern that there could be a “de facto” subdivision, not a true subdivision, but a cluster of eight homes. He acknowledged that the elimination of the CER 65 requirement seems to be the wishes of the commission.
The commission voted unanimously to eliminate 604.5 (9) from the current ordinance. The county board will consider the commission’s recommendation in an upcoming meeting. City and township clerks will be notified.
ATV trail
Adkins reported that a property owner has inquired about developing an ATV and side by side trail entirely on his/her property. This is a prohibited use in the current ordinance. The intention is to have a supervised trail open to the public, a commercial enterprise. There was no action or further discussion on this. The proposal would require a change in the current ordinance.
Leave a Reply