Chair Mike Schell presided and called the meeting to order at 4:00pm on Wednesday, March 11th, 2020. Committee Members present: Jim Wright, Bill Carlblom, Jeff Erickson, and Bobby Koepplin. Joe Faure and Dave Carlsrud were absent.
Others: City Building Inspector Dave Andersen, City Assessor/Acting Secretary Sandy Hansen, City Attorney Carl Martineck, Brian Heath and Michael Strom representing KLJ.
Audience members: Melissa Remick, John Sorenson, Bob Drake, Rhonda Olsberg, Lee Olsberg, Donny Eberle representing Bridgetown Development, Loni Trapp, Warren Remick, Jamie Thebo, Perry Kapaun representing Barnes Rural Water District, Jennifer Feist representing Valley City Barnes County Development Corporation, Eugene Johnson, Shawn Cole.
Jim Wright moved to approve the Minutes of the February 12th regular meeting, seconded by Bill Carlblom, followed by roll call and approval.
Public Hearing for Plat Request of Waterfront Meadows Addition submitted by Bridgetown Development LLP.
Chair Mike Schell opened the public hearing. Donny Eberle of Bridgetown Builders presented a preliminary plat of Waterfront Meadows south of Lakeshore Acres that featured 49 residential lots, 20 of those to be townhomes. Eberle questioned the need of sidewalks required by city ordinance regulations for any newly annexed development unless deemed impractical or unsuitable. He pointed out plans for a walking path along the lake, a planned park and wider streets than required to allow for a designated walking area. He added that putting in sidewalks as the development grew would be impractical as it could take years for the lots to sell and be developed. Chair Schell called for comments from the public and 3-4 audience members came forward to review the map with Eberle and KLJ. When the meeting resumed, Michael Strom mentioned that the neighboring addition – Lakeshore Acres – did not have sidewalks so putting in sidewalks in the new addition would have them lead to nowhere. Wright moved to close the public hearing with Bobby Koepplin seconding with all in favor. Internal discussion followed. Chair Schell pointed out the plat could be recommended for approval with conditions including defining and identifying the wider roadway, park and walking path on the final plat. KLJ’s Brian Heath mentioned that the pond, walking path & park are all unusable land and asked for guidance on how it should be indicated on the plat. Attorney Carl Martineck said it should be designated as something – perhaps its own lot. Koepplin moved to recommend a do pass to the city commission of the plat with the conditions to be met of defining the wider roadway, identifying the park & walking path, giving the pond and unusable land a designated lot number, and approval of no sidewalks needed. Wright seconded followed by roll call and approval.
Public Hearing for Plat Request of Plecity Mobile Home Park Addition submitted by Lee Olsberg.
Chair Schell opened the public hearing. The owner of Plecity Mobile Home Park, Lee Olsberg, told the board this land is still a Metes & Bounds description and that he wanted to take advantage of the City’s offer to pay half the cost of platting for any Metes & Bounds parcels within city limits. He also wanted to take the opportunity to rezone part of the land to B-2 commercial instead of the R-4 designation it now is. He was reminded that the rezone issue would have to be taken up at the April meeting to allow proper legal notifications to be posted regarding the rezone. Audience member Shawn Cole expressed concern about the commercial lot having older trailer houses but was told that wouldn’t be allowed if rezoned commercial. Martineck said there were still some easements – sanitary sewer, utilities and road easements – that needed to be defined as to location for the final plat. There was also a question about the road easements and if they should be dedicated to the public or should be private. Olsberg just want to be sure his commercial lot was not landlocked with no access. He was told that should be taken care of with the proper easements indicated on the final plat. Carlblom moved to close the public hearing with Jeff Erickson seconding and board approval. Internal discussion continued on road easements and proper widths of those easements. Heath is working on the platting and will do further investigation on whether 17th Avenue can be widened to 60’ while he’s working on defining other easements. Koepplin moved to recommend a do pass to the city commission of the plat with the conditions of confirmation and inclusion of utility easements and a possible 60’ right of way of 17th Avenue SW. Carlblom seconded followed by roll call and approval.
Information regarding possible Planned Unit Development (PUD) request from Bob Drake.
Bob Drake told the board he is putting together plans for a Planned Unit Development on his land along 12th Ave SE. He hopes to create a development of 13-15 entry-level homes along with some storage units and he was looking to the board for direction in how he should be proceeding with the PUD requirements and requesting the vacating of 11th Ave SE to allow more room for development. He said core samples had been done to address any sliding concerns. Building Inspector Dave Andersen said he had no concerns about vacating the road. Koepplin said that if Drake has done his homework regarding whether the lots were buildable through core samples, he should proceed with generating a plat map indicating lot layout and utility easements. Drake explained going the PUD route would allow for smaller lots and more homes; Anderson pointed out the setbacks were the same as other developments, including the need for storm water management plans. Martineck said that the PUD process was a little different in that the P&Z commission needs to approve the preliminary plan before Drake engages the engineer to do further work – so now would be the time for questions. Schell asked Drake about timelines and suggested he bring in a formal request, a preliminary plat and more information to the April meeting for board approval; he also asked the bore samples be brought to the building inspector.
Building/Fire Inspector Dave Andersen’s Report
Andersen said that some plans were filtering in for the proposed jail, Love’s Truck Stop is moving slowly ahead, and the VCSU Music Building has some issues with the soil bores and may need substantial foundational pilings prior to building. Other than that, chatter indicates that the outlook is for a big year in construction within city limits.
Adjourn
With no other items to discuss, Chair Schell called for the meeting to close at 5:09pm.
Submitted by:
City Assessor Sandy Hansen, Acting Secretary