At the November 15 meeting of the Fillmore County Planning Commission, Linnea Weiser described her plans to open a wedding/corporate event center at the former Root River Country Club location, which is about two miles northeast of Ostrander in Section 21, Bloomfield Township.
During the public hearing she explained that she intends to rent out the 40-foot x 60-foot building for possibly four to six events per month. Ample parking is available and the property has a relatively new septic system with restrooms in the building. Clients will need to supply a licensed caterer and a licensed bartender. She will not have a license to prepare food or to sell intoxicating beverages. Two wells are on the property.
Weiser has plans to build a storage building southwest of the current club house building.
Neighboring property owner Harlan Marchant asked whether she planned to purchase the country club property? Weiser said she is in the process of purchasing the club house and 16 acres. He said he didn’t have any concerns about her intended use of the property. She was then asked about the number of other event centers in the area. Weiser suggested other event centers were renting out at a higher price than that which she will be offering. There were no other comments from the public or township.
Andy Bisek brought up insurance and a midnight noise deadline. County attorney Brett Corson asked about the number of events and number of people attending. Zoning Administrator Cristal Adkins suggested that the number of people will be dictated by the occupancy allowed by the fire marshal. She added that in the conditional use permit category the number of people and the number of events is not limited.
The commission approved the conditional use permit with two conditions: proof of insurance and midnight deadline for band or other music. The Agricultural Tourism Business CUP request was sent to the county board for their consideration.
Renewable Energy Ordinance
During this evening’s public hearing on the proposed Renewable Energy Ordinance, attorney Corson said he had not had the opportunity to review the ordinance. He pointed to some changes he felt would be appropriate, for example, a description of information that will be required from applicants for micro-wind energy conversion systems, non commercial wind energy conversions systems, and small solar energy systems. Small energy systems will only require a simple permitting process. Corson said he was uncomfortable with the approval of the ordinance without reviewing it further.
The commission decided to discuss Corson’s recommendations at the December 20 meeting.
EDA
EDA director Marty Walsh and members of the EDA board were present. Walsh briefly ran through the EDA agenda. Of interest to the Planning Commission is the upcoming Housing Study. The county board has approved going ahead with a housing study. This study will contribute to an updating of the Comprehensive Plan. The last plan was released in 2006. The plan will encompass policy goals and private and public land and water use.
A brief time line for the process to update the plan includes: housing study, internal staff meetings and community leader involvement in 2019, 2020 census, beginning of the formal process in 2020, and finalizing the updated plan late 2020. Participants for a steering committee will be nominated by the EDA and Planning Commission. The plan will cover the following elements: agriculture, broadband, demographics, education, housing, infrastructure, regional considerations, transportation, tourism, and zoning and planning.
Other business in brief
•Revisions to Section 803, Sale or Transfer of Real Estate, were discussed. One change says a pre-treatment system requires an intermediate inspector. This type of system includes a smaller tank for treatment before it gets to the drain field. It is used where there isn’t sufficient area for a full size standard septic system.
Adkins asked that a monetary penalty amount be set if the subsurface sewage treatment system (SSTS) Compliance Inspection is not provided to the Zoning office with the sale or transfer of real estate. The county board will set the penalty amount. The revisions are meant to assure that before the transfer or sale of real estate, an SSTS inspection is completed. If a system is found not to be compliant or failing, it must be brought up to code within 12 months.
The commission voted to move the proposed revisions to Section 803 to public hearing at the December 20 meeting.
•Adkins lead a discussion on the crop equivalency rating (CER) restriction as related to the construction of houses. Adkins and Kristi Ruesink looked at Norway Township to illustrate the affect or lack of an affect of CER restrictions. If just taking into account the quarter/quarter rule, the whole of Norway Township could have a maximum of 1,152 dwellings. Eighteen sections or half of Norway Township now has 82 dwellings (estimate 164 in the whole township). This represents a small percent of those that could theoretically be built. If one would factor in CER restriction, there could be 271 building sites on half of the township (or about 542 in the whole township). Without the CER restriction, but taking into account bluffs and feedlot setbacks, there could be 449 in half of the township or an estimated 898 dwellings in all of Norway Township.
The CER restriction has been a point of discussion over time. There have been three variances granted to build on land above CER 65 (in the last couple of years). Tom Thompson asked why have the restriction if we are going to grant variances?
Trinity Johnson suggested if he pays his taxes he should be able to build on his property. Duane Bakke noted a higher crop equivalency rating likely equates to more intensive agriculture, dryers and livestock. He acknowledged that zoning changes as development changes.
Adkins stated we are less restrictive than every county around us. She maintained she will not encourage someone to apply for a variance if they don’t have a hardship. Often she will encourage people to build in a different location where the CER rating is not an issue. She made it clear, if someone intends to purchase a property that is unbuildable with plans to build a home thinking they can come in for a variance, it will not be considered a hardship.