Posted: 7/31/07
Special council meeting held
to review Fischel proposal
By Charlie Warner
Argus News Editor
The Caledonia City Council approved two zoning requests, but denied a third concerning a development project planned by Travis Fischel on property recently purchased east of the Caledonia Elementary School. A public hearing and special council meeting was held July 16 to receive public testimony and consider the requests.
The Fischels propose to construct a commercial building with a second story residence measuring 30 by 60 feet, with access to Main Street. The property is currently zoned R-2 (residential) and the Fischels requested it be rezoned B-1-1 (Transitional Central Business District.)
They also requested a variance to create parking stalls measuring 9 by 18 feet instead of the mandated size of 10 by 25 feet.
Houston County Highway Engineer Marcus Evans informed the council the council would not authorize a driveway onto Main Street for safety and traffic flow reasons. He suggested the access be off Grove Street instead.
The Fischels indicated if the driveway had to be accessed from Grove Street, the front of the building would have to face the elementary school.
The council approved the request to rezone the property from R-2 to B-1-1, and the zoning application to construct the commercial building with a second-story residence. But the council denied the variance request on the dimension of parking stalls since they felt there was sufficient area to accommodate the seven to nine spaces required on the 150 by 300 foot parcel.
Caledonia Argus
314 West Lincoln St.
P.O. Box 227
Caledonia, MN 55921-0227
507/724-3475
E-Mail: editor.argus@ecm-inc.com