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Commissioner Miller: ‘County should put highway complex on hold, at least for now’
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By Charlie Warner
Argus News Editor
Stating he hadn’t heard any news on the federal EDA stimulus loan program the county hopes to be included in to pay for the proposed County Highway Department complex, Commissioner Jack Miller made a motion to put that project on hold for the time being.
“With the cost of the jail (proposed criminal justice center) and the highway building, it’s just too much to put on the backs of Houston County taxpayers,” Miller said during the April 28 county board meeting. “I just can’t justify doing both with the current economic situation.”
Miller’s comments and motion came at the end of the meeting and seemed to take the rest of the board members off guard.
County Financial Director Casey Bradley said that he doesn’t think any of the applications had been approved yet, and said he thought Houston County’s highway department application was still in the running.
“Something should have been done with the highway building 10 or 20 years ago. But it wasn’t. Interest rates are very low, construction costs are down right now. I really feel we need to move forward with the highway department,” Commissioner Tom Bjerke countered.
“I agree right now with the economic situation, this could be a lot to handle, but we must look at reality. If we stop now, it’s going to be hard to pick this back up later when the economy does improve. And what about inflation? It’s going to cost more later.”
“Maybe we should wait and see if things do bottom out, or if we’re going to end up in a full blown depression,” Miller added. “If we do go into a depression, construction prices will even be lower.
“Just because there’s some water in the basement of the current highway building when it rains doesn’t mean we should be looking at spending all this money to build a new complex right now. Lots of people had water in their basements during the past two summers, and they didn’t build new houses. If we don’t get stimulus money to help pay for it (the highway department complex) I think we need to wait.
“Our mission is to provide services to Houston County residents,” Miller went on. “Just because there’s some water in the basement and the building is old doesn’t prevent us from providing the proper services to our residents. We can still maintain our roads and bridges utilizing that building.”
Apparently none of the other four county commissioners agreed with Miller, because his motion died for lack of a second.
In other board action:
Tax abatement approved
The board approved an $11,300 tax abatement over the next five years for Kid’s Corner Daycare of Caledonia. According to Houston County EDA Director Joyce Iverson, the county EDA reviewed the proposal and business plan and recommended approval of the abatement.
Caledonia resident Emily Schroeder, who currently has an in-home daycare plans to build a 6,000 square foot “stick built” facility on the lot right next to Brad’s Electric on Old Highway Drive near Bissen Street.
The business plans call for it to be licensed for 42 children- eight infants, 14 toddlers, and 20 pre-schoolers. Schroeder indicated she could expand the business to 101 kids with the size building she is proposing.
She would offer a pre-school curriculum, and would employ six full-time and two part-time persons. Two of the full-time employees would be teachers.
The operation would include three classrooms, a commercial kitchen, office, and restrooms. There would be room to expand into school-aged day care in the future if there would be a need.
“There’s a real need for these types of businesses in the area,” Commissioner Dave Corcoran said. “And this is what economic development is all about…creating new jobs and providing services.”
Interim use permit discussed
County Zoning Administrator Bob Scanlan spent about 15 minutes bringing the county board up to speed on the zoning workshops the County Planning and Zoning Board has been conducting.
According to Scanlan, the P&Z is looking at the idea of creating “interim use” permits. An interim use permit, which is a fairly new concept in Minnesota, would apply for temporary uses on properties for certain applications.
“If the planning commission is faced with a property owner who comes in with an idea to use his land in a certain way that is not a permitted use in the current zoning district, the land must be rezoned. And once it is rezoned, it stays that way. With an interim use permit, it wouldn’t have to be a permanent change. The property could be rezoned on an interim basis and if the property was sold, or if the business that required the change in zoning didn’t work out, the zoning could be reverted back,” Scanlan said.
“This could be a way for the county to be more flexible when handling zoning requests. It’s just something we’re looking at. We haven’t taken any action on this. We’re just looking at it,” Scanlan added.
You can contact Charlie Warner at
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