Posted: 7/27/05
Solum deal to make home compliant nearly done
By David Heiller
Argus News Editor
An agreement that would allow Jared Solum to move into his rural Spring Grove house appears to be nearly complete.
Solum told county commissioners at last weekís board meeting that he would not convert a pole shed into a dwelling.
That would mean that the home that Solum built on that 40-acre parcel would be in compliance with county zoning laws and could be lived in.
Zoning administrator Bob Scanlan said that Solum had paid a $500 permit fee. Scanlan and environmental services director Rick Frank toured the building on July 14 and videotaped it.
County attorney Rick Jackson explained that Scanlan had recommended a change of use permit for the pole building to an ag building with an office. The building had been getting homestead credit.
Solum objected to a change in the permit because the zoning ordinance didnít call for that, Jackson said, so they agreed to an affidavit signed by Solum stating that this would not be a dwelling.
Jackson said that drafts were exchanged, but that an affidavit that came to the zoning office on Monday didnít address the countyís concerns.
That prompted Solum to say at the meeting that he would add to the affidavit that he would not convert the pole shed into a dwelling.
Jackson responded that the two sides might not be very far apart, but he wanted to work with Solumís attorney on the issue.
Solum has until August 1 to come into compliance on the issue. He built the house on Mapleleaf Drive in Spring Grove Township last fall without a building permit. He applied for one after-the-fact, but it was not granted because a pole barn on the same 40 was considered another residence. Zoning ordinances on agricultural land prohibit more than one home per 40. Solum contended that the other structure was an ag building and not a residence.
The county received an application for homestead classification in 2004 on the pole building for residence occupied by a qualifying relative of owner. It was signed by both Jared Solum and his brother, Joseph.
Wieser update
Jackson also spoke about the countyís responsibility in a project that Brian Wieser is doing in La Crescent Township in which he is burying concrete and rubble. Houston County has authority over 16 of its 17 townships, but not over La Crescent Township, which has its own zoning ordinance. However, La Crescent Township cannot have less restrictive zoning laws than the county, Jackson said.
The issue came up at the July 12 meeting after the board received a letter from Ken Tschumper about the situation. Frank then wrote a letter on July 13 to the La Crescent Township Board specifying that the county had not approved a conditional use permit for Wieser
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