NORTHERN TOWNSHIP BOARD OF SUPERVISORS – Monday, June 24, 2024, Northern Town Hall, 445 Town Hall Road NW, Bemidji, MN, 5:00 p.m.
PRESENT: Supervisors Jess Frenzel, Curt Blumhagen, Gary Barnard, and Mike Kelly. Administrator Chris Lahn, Road Supervisor Tim Vigen, and Clerk Mary Israelson. See sign in book for guests.
MINUTES: A motion was offered by Blumhagen, seconded by Barnard, and carried, to approve the minutes of the June 10th Board of Adjustment and Town Board meetings as presented.
PLANNING CASES:
Heartland Christian Academy: CUP-24-31.02484.00. 9914 Heartland Circle NW. Heartland Chairman of the Board, Jerry Vaughn, was present to request a Conditional Use Permit for the construction of an additional multipurpose building to be used as a school gymnasium, cafeteria and kitchen for students and staff. A public hearing was held before the planning commission on June 17th with Findings of Fact submitted. Their recommendation was to grant the request with an added condition requiring blacktopping of the parking lot within three (3) years. Other conditions include a review every 6 months and annually to ensure compliance with the ordinance. The CUP shall expire and become void if the project is not substantially started within 12 months from its date of issuance. A motion was offered by Kelly, and seconded by Blumhagen, to approve the recommendation as presented. Motion carried unanimously. RON
Loree Pederson: Z-2024-002. Parcel #31.00367.01. 163 Town Hall Rd NW. Request is to Re-Zone this parcel from B1 to R2 in order to be consistent with current usage and sale-ability. The property was originally developed as a business along with a single-family home, and is currently being used as a single-family home. The owners are hoping to divide the ten acre property and feel its best use might be for single owner storage use. A public hearing was held before the planning commission on June 17th with a Findings of Fact submitted. Their recommendation is to deny the request due to the location of the property along a major highway and is better suited as a commercial setting. A motion was offered by Kelly, and seconded by Barnard, to approve the recommendation to DENY the re-zone request. The motion carried unanimously.
Corey Wright: Z-2024-002. Parcel #31.00439.00. 7125 Irvine Ave NW. Mr. Wright was present to request that this property be rezoned from R2 to R4. The property is currently a grandfathered commercial use, and his intention is to remove the existing buildings and replace them with approximately 8-10 multi-family duplex units. These units are intended to address availability concerns for elder housing in the area and to be consistent with neighboring parcels. Support from nearby neighbors was noted. A public hearing was held before the planning commission on June 17th with a Findings of Fact submitted, and a recommendation to approve the request. Quite a bit of discussion followed regarding whether or not the R3 zone might be better suited for the property, partly because the impervious surface requirement is less restrictive. Due to the owner not being in support of the suggestion, a motion was offered by Blumhagen to approve the recommendation to grant the re-zone to R4, seconded by Barnard, and carried unanimously. It was noted that if Wright decides that the R3 zone might better suit his plan, he can apply for a new re-zone request and pay the usual fee.
VISITORS:
Bidal Duran, Candidate for District 2A House of Representative, was present to introduce himself and wants to support the township with whatever needs there would be. Barnard asked for support with the quest for legislative help in a bonding bill for our wastewater treatment system. He indicated that he would need to do some more research regarding the request, but felt that if it was a legitimate matter that he would more than likely support.
ADMINISTRATOR REPORT:
Lahn had many items to address;
- Laptops – Kelly is now using a township laptop versus the i-pad that was purchased several years ago and Lahn asked if that might be a consideration for the other members of the board. It was agreed to wait a bit, maybe until the i-pads need upgrading.
- Beltrami County has scheduled a meeting with the property owners along Birchmont Beach Road on the north end of Lake Bemidji to discuss their road project. It will be on Friday, July 12th, at 3:00 p.m. at the Northern Town Hall and there will likely be some questions regarding the proposed wastewater treatment project. Lahn, Barnard, and Frenzel indicated that they will be able to attend, along with Mark Fuller.
- A memo from Matt Murray discusses three (3) options for surveying and/or re-platting the undeveloped portion of the cemetery. The sub-committee of Barnard and Blumhagen recommend Option 1, which would be to mark the existing corners and they would charge for their time for a total of approximately $5,520. It was agreed to go ahead as described and it is hoped that Johnson can get his clearing work done soon so that this work will be easier. Barnard has marked some trees that he believes should remain, and asked that others look at them also. The Cemetery Policy should be ready for review at the next board meeting, with possible fee changes.
- Cemetery Crash – Lahn is still waiting for the accident report from the Sheriff’s office regarding the accident. The dirt repair work has been completed and the fence work will be done any day. He is working with Kevin from the monument company, regarding the damaged headstones. It appears that in most of the cases, it will be easier to replace the headstones instead of repair them. It will be quite difficult in many cases to locate family members of the older damaged headstones.
- Bike Trail through Ruttger’s property – Lahn will talk with the owner to get some direction on how to proceed with the process needed for a potential bike trail that would connect to Birchmont Beach Road.
- Lake Movil Public Access signage – Lahn has been approached by someone who would like to put up a sign at the access that tells the history of the lake. It was felt that it might be better placed near the water and someone (Kelly) should be there when it is installed. It was also questioned whether or not the DNR has approved the signage (required).
- Town Hall Electric Panel – The panel is at its max capacity and a quote for $2,250.00 was submitted by Larson Electric to change out the existing 100 amp service with a 200 amp. It was agreed to have the work done.
- Ordinance Amendments – After doing some research, Lahn has determined that a public meeting is required in order to review the amendments being proposed, and then the Township Board can take action after that is done. There is no need to conduct readings of the amendments.
- Cannabis – Lahn had forwarded the information he has received regarding implementing these new regulations. The County is proposing a moratorium until there is more information regarding the process, and Lahn suggested that this Board consider the same.
- Short Term Rentals – One of the recommendations from the township attorney is to switch to a license process versus a permitting process. No short term rental would be grandfathered in this case, and all would be required to be licensed.
- Town Hall Addition – There have been two (2) real serious contractors looking at the project. The bids will be due Friday, July 12th.
- Payroll Processing – Lahn is proposing a pay period of twice per month, or every other week, versus doing it once per month as has always been done. Electronic funds transfers would be used and he would be the one authorizing the claim forms. Frenzel feels this is necessary for future staffing needs. This will be looked at some more.
- Engineering Service – The last day to submit RFPs is Monday, July 1st at noon, and the Board will be meeting at 5:00 p.m. that day to review and select one.
ROAD REPORT:
Crack Filling – Astech Surface Technologies Corp is the only company that supplied Vigen with an estimate to do the following roads; Bakkum – $2,267.00, Pond – $2,640.00, Waville – $12,538.00, Lavinia – $25,575.00, Majestic Pine – $2,485.00, Quiet Majestic – $850.00, East Movil Lake – $19,575.00. It was agreed to move forward with this work, minus Lavinia Road since it would be completely reconstructed if/when the wastewater treatment system is put in place. It has been recommended by Freeberg & Grund, to chip-seal E. Movil Lake Rd in the near future. The cracks would still need to be filled prior to that work.
Thistle – Some spraying of the noxious weeds is being done.
Ditch Mowing – Travis Kelm has been doing the work, with one pass being done now and two to be done in early fall.
Road Tour – Is set for Wednesday, June 26th starting at 3:00 p.m.
CORRESPONDENCE:
1) MnDot acceptance and sign-off of the plans for the State Park Road Account project on Wild Plum, 2) quote from Astech for crack filling, 3) estimate from WS Field Service for the fence work at the cemetery as the result of the car accident that happened there, 4) email request from a Waville Rd resident regarding a pothole, and a ‘thank you’ note once it was fixed.
OTHER:
Ordinance/Assessment Policy – A work session was held to discuss these topics for the proposed wastewater treatment and Lahn will forward this information to Ehler’s & Associates in order for them to complete a financial analysis for the proposed waste treatment system.
Lavinia Road – A July meeting is being planned in order to invite these property owners in to talk specifically about the road reconstruction issues that will take place when the waste treatment collection system is installed.
Trailer Parks – The condition of the parks owned by Beltrami Ironwood Investments continue to be a problem with frequent complaints.
With no further business forthcoming, the meeting was adjourned at 7:39 p.m.