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Maine Prairie MOU/Road Meeting
September 27, 2011
Supervisor Loewen opened the meeting at 7:00 p.m. with the pledge to the
flag.
Heidi Winskowski from Stearns County Environmental Services was present
to answer any questions the board might have.
One of the issues discussed was the side wall height on buildings.
The board felt it was more important to control the side wall height
according to the size of the lot it is placed on. The decision was
to go on a gradual schedule according to lot size. Supervisor
Wicker made a motion to set the scale at 0 to .49 acres at 10’ high
sidewall, .5 to 1.99 acres at 12’ high sidewall, 2 to 5 acres with 14’
high sidewall, greater than 5 acres a maximum of 35’ for
residential accessory building only. Dennis seconded, motion
carried.
Old Township Ordinance #4.13.2 which states “No person, firm,
corporation or other entity shall place, repair or reconstruct any
utility in town road right-of-way without first securing a permit from
the Township Zoning Administrator or Board of Supervisors.” With
discussion Supervisors Wicker/Loewen made a motion to remove the word
repair to make it easier to enforce the ordinance. Motion
carried.
Heidi explained when it comes to gravel mining; the county is reopening
registration of gravel mining operations that have not been registered.
Each township was required to locate all gravel mining operations in the
township. The county will contact each pit not registered.
The board reviewed their gravel mining regulations. This ordinance
was drawn up with the help of committee members interested in protecting
their property rights. The board reviewed the county’s new
ordinance concerning reclamation. The board showed concern with
their new ordinance being less restrictive. Supervisors
Kuechle/Wicker made a motion to revert back to the old ordinance that
showed an 18% slope reclamation plan. Motion carried.
Concerning mining ordinance Performance Standards #7.17.1, C#3 where it
states that the application for an interim use permit be done at the
county level. Maine Prairie has issued permits of this kind before
and wishes it to state the application be done at township level.
The discussion came to what permits the county issues and which are
township permits. The county does most of the permitting and the
township would like to take on more of the permitting process.
Heidi explained there is a lot of preparation that takes place on
permitting. The township is looking on taking over more permitting
in many areas. Chair Loewen asked if the township is being a
little aggressive on taking over so many at one time. Heidi asked
if the board was going to hire a new administrative staff to oversee
permitting. With the board not looking at adding a position for
permitting, the board is asking for more time to review their decision
on taking on permitting so aggressively. Heidi explained that she
could move forward on the change in the ordinance without addressing the
permitting. The board asked Clerk Harff to check into plans for a
visit to Wakefield Planning to see how they made the transition to take
over their permitting.
Heidi was asked about Transmission Line permitting, she explained that a
Conditional Use Permit would be issued and it would take an
environmental assessment. She was also asked about Metrological
towers and that would include Wind towers. The board was not in
favor of towers in R10, R5 or below zoning districts.
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The board thanked Heidi for coming in and when the board was ready to
make a decision on permitting they will contact her.
Supervisors Loewen/Kuechle made a motion not to have any MOU/Road
meeting on October 25th due to allowing time for harvest. Motion
carried. Clerk Harff will put a legal in the paper to cover the
change.
Supervisor Kuechle/Wicker made a motion to adjourn at 10:15 p.m.
Terre Harff, Clerk
Maine Prairie
Township
12670 Co Rd 149 Watkins, MN 55389
Phone: 320.398.2905 Fax:
320.398.2906
clerk.mpt@meltel.net
Copyright (c) 2008