Posted: 3/21/06
City rezoning request on hold
By David Heiller
Argus News Editor
The Caledonia City Council tabled a request to rezone 7.2 acres of land from highway business district to agricultural on March 13.
Council member Randi Vick, who made the motion, wants to wait until after a March 21 meeting on the cityís comprehensive plan before making a final decision.
Dave and Karolina Schuldt own the parcel, which is located between Bonanza Grain and County Road 12. The Schuldts also want a variance to sell a house on the property with two acres instead of the minimum of five acres that is required by statute.
Council member Paul Fisch said he felt the land belonged in the highway business category. Councilman Gary Klug said that he agreed.
Real estate agent Pete Peterson did most of the speaking for the Schuldts in the 35-minute hearing. Rezoning the land to agricultural will make it easier to sell, he said. The house is proving difficult to sell with the current zoning because a new house cannot be rebuilt on the site if the old one is destroyed, Peterson said. Banks are unwilling to give a loan for the purchase of the house for that reason, he said.
City clerk Bob Nelson agreed, stating that banks wonít give loans to homes on non-conforming uses, which is what this parcel is. The land was zoned highway business in 1982; the house grandfathered in because it already existed on the site.
Nelson said the city has only a certain amount of land for highway business district. He said the new comprehensive plan should address the question of whether the land should be residential or highway business district.
Peterson agreed that it would be better for the city to have a business there. ìThat would be our best situation, if we could bring commercial in there,î he said.
One problem with that scenario is that there are no city utilities to the area, Peterson said, and anything to it would have to go under Highway 76. ìThatíd be hard to put even a dollar figure on that,î he said.
But selling the land as residential parcels, each with its own well and septic system, would not be in the best interest of the city, Nelson said, because of the cityís wellhead protection plan. Any further development there will require an intensive look from the city, Nelson said.
Fred Kruckow, who owns Bonanza Grain, said he understands the Schuldts wanting to get the maximum money for the property.
ìDo we want a house on highway business?î Kruckow asked. He requested that the city stick with the five acre minimum for selling the house. If it goes to two, then it could go to one acre or a half acre, he said.
Kruckow and other people also discussed the difficulty of access to the property. Dave Schuldt said the county is sure that access could be done from County Road 12.
Support for trail resolution
Also at last weekís meeting, the council approved a resolution in support of the extension of the Root River State Trail from the city of Houston to La Crescent and La Crosse.
Joyce Iverson, the cityís community development coordinator, said that Caledonia is part of the Blufflands Trail system legislation. It states that additional trails may be established to include all cities in Houston County except Brownsville and Eitzen. Caledonia needs active citizens to get behind the plan, she said.
Iverson added that the county engineer will try to include trails along the shoulders of County Roads 9 and 21 when they are rebuilt in the future.
Fisch said the issue had been tabled by the city once before.
Vick said the council should look at the big picture. ìIt need support from everybody,î she said.
ìIt doesnít cost us anything,î Klug added.
Other business
ï Abatement: Iverson also said she wanted to set up an April 10 tax abatement hearing for Hutton Partners, LLC, of Chattanooga, Tennessee, for building a driveway for a proposed Dollar General Store north of Alco. The board agreed by consensus with that hearing. The abatement would be for half the cost, Fisch said, because the adjoining property, owned by MaCal Developers, would benefit from the driveway. Hutton plans to build a 10,600 square foot retail space. The company builds the stores and then leases them to Dollar General.
ï New police equipment: The board approved an equipment request from police chief Randy Shefelbine for three computers, a digital camera, three digital recorders, and a digital breath tester, at a total cost of $7,778. The council also approved the lease of a copy machine at $64.29 per month.
The old computers are full and slow, Shefelbine said. He added that the digital recorders will save time over tape recorders when it comes to making copies for attorneys. it may save transcription time too, he said.
ï Zoning application fees: The council approved new zoning permit application fees. Commercial/industrial went from $100 to $150, and residential went from $50 to $75. The changes came after zoning administrator Mike Gerardy assessed the time involved in the process. ìI think weíre a little behind,î he said.
ï Dual fuel credit: Council members reviewed a 2005 duel fuel credit from Tri-County Electric of $534.54. Klug and Robert Standish encouraged Nelson to spread the word about the benefits of dual fuel when people apply for zoning and building permits.
ï Concession stand: The city will advertise for a new concession stand operator for the summer. Last year Woodland Industries did it, but they donít want to do it again, Nelson said.
ï Seasonal jobs: Nelson also asked if the cityís seasonal jobs such as lifeguards should be reserved for high school and college students. Fisch asked if that would be age discrimination. Klug said he would hate to eliminate anyone from a job.
ï Parking and towing discussion: Klug said he had received complaints from people whose cars were ticketed and towed during a snowstorm on the morning of March 5.
Gerardy said that there was a misunderstanding all the way around on the situation, which took place in the downtown area. In the future, signs will be put up on both sides of the street in the downtown area when snow is going to be removed.
All the tickets given in the area that night have been rescinded, and the city will pay for the towing charges, Gerardy said.
Mayor Mike Morey was absent from the meeting, which lasted 2-1/2 hours.
Caledonia Argus
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