The Fillmore County Planning Commission held public hearings on three conditional use permit applications at their December 17 meeting.
Two of the applications were for private cemeteries.
•Dominic Crawford and Caleb Short, section 32 Fountain Township, had submitted an application for a private cemetery on five acres in the Agricultural District. The property is located about four miles west of the city of Preston. This application was brought back for a continued hearing after some issues came up at the November 19 meeting of the Planning Commission.
Duane Bakke had questioned whether two of the buildings on the property had been properly permitted. Zoning administrator Cristal Adkins said that since the November meeting the applicants had came in and applied for proper building permits. Both structures are now permitted.
County Attorney Brett Corson had submitted six conditions at the November meeting to be attached to the CUP. Adkins said the applicants had agreed to the conditions. The conditions include a complete survey of the cemetery boundary, the recording of the survey with the county, the maintenance of a continuing plat defining the location of the burials and the recording of the plat with the deed of the property, proper access must be maintained, cemetery must comply with state and federal laws/regulations, and access must be granted as requested by the county to assure CUP compliance.
Andy Bisek asked who will maintain the cemetery if the property is sold. Adkins said if the cemetery portion of the property is sold the buyer would assume responsibility for its maintenance. Corson noted there are a number of private cemeteries in the county; some of them are maintained and others are not maintained at all, as they have been abandoned.
There were no comments from township supervisors or the public this day. At the November hearing Jennifer Mulhern voiced her opposition and Sharon Woellert had questions. Joe Stephas spoke in favor of this use of the property.
The commission unanimously approved the application with the six conditions attached, which will send the application to the county board for their consideration.
•The other application for a private cemetery was submitted by John and Arlene Gingerich, section 9 Spring Valley Township. Their property is in the Agricultural District and located about three miles north of the city of Spring Valley.
Adkins explained this application is for an Amish cemetery and the applicants have agreed to the same six conditions. They plan to confine the cemetery to two acres and there is adequate parking and accessibility from the road.
There was no comment from the township supervisors or the public.
It was asked if it would be the township’s responsibility to maintain a cemetery that had been abandoned? Corson said there is an argument that the township should take over. Bakke maintained state statute says the township becomes the responsible unit in this case. He suggested maintenance implies there should be a fence around the cemetery boundary. He also noted that prior to these two applications he could only remember four applications for private cemeteries during the last 25 years.
The commission unanimously approved the application with the six conditions attached, which will send the application to the county board for their consideration.
Bakke suggested that the ordinance governing private cemeteries be reviewed, so that the 6 conditions could be added to the regulating language in the ordinance.
•At the November 19 meeting, five acres of property north of the city of Mabel purchased by Caleb Benson, section 27 Newburg Township, was rezoned from Agricultural to B1 (General Commercial District).
This day the commission held a hearing on a CUP application for a used car lot at this location. Benson owns Stateline Auto Sales and the additional space is needed to expand his business.
There was no comment from township supervisors or the public. The commission unanimously approved the application, which will send it to the county board for their consideration.
Bakke asked how the used car lot is regulated as to the total number of cars and any repairs of those vehicles. Adkins said the number of cars was not regulated and she didn’t expect he would be doing repair work. It was noted that changing tires could be considered as a repair. Bakke suggested that repairs should be part of it; Gary Ruskell agreed. Bakke added they review the ordinance; used car sales and repairs should be under one conditional use permit.
•The next Planning Commission will be held on January 14.
Leave a Reply