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County meeting gets heatedBy MaryHelen Swanson The year 2004 is getting off to a rough start in the board room at the Chisago County Government Center. Things are getting heated. One issue thatís fueling the flames is the moratorium placed on development in the Sunrise and St. Croix riverways last December 17. Another one is about filling positions on the planning commission, including a new position of at-large membership just approved last week. Speakers during the public forum at the Jan. 21 meeting both supported the action on the moratorium and also asked for the motion to be rescinded or at least to have the board offer a process of appeal for those who have already begun action on plats within this area. Kathy Bristol-Lee, a county resident living on Kost Trail, asked for the appeal process having already invested time and money in a plat. With a fistful of papers for each of the commissioners, Bristol-Lee showed them that she has been working on a parcel split since last August. The split, she explained, is to give some land to her daughter and son-in-law so they can build a home. Board chairman Mike Robinson, responding to her dilemma, asked of the three commissioners who approved the moratorium, if any would make a motion to rescind the moratorium. None of the three, Commissioners Lora Walker, Ben Montzka or Rick Olseen, accepted the suggestion. Commissioner Montzka also presented a map, one he had drawn up, which used roadways as borders rather than quarter-quarter sections. Montzka said he had been given some information from the zoning department in preparing his map. He noted that 95 percent of the land in the county is not affected by the moratorium; he also said he was aware of developments that were pending in the affected area. He said all it means is that eventually there might be some different requirements for development of this land, such as septic system regulations. He said he had been contacted by a number of large-tract property owners in the area. He also said the whole issue was very important to him. Olseen offered a change in the proposed map to exclude the land owned by Bristol-Lee. County Attorney Katherine Johnson cautioned the board about responding to individual property owners in approving the map. Robinson agreed with Montzka that the land was very important. He suggested for that reason that the board rescind the motion and hold public hearings. Commissioner Bob Gustafson repeated previous comments about there being no emergency requiring a moratorium. Attorney Johnson agreed that the interim ordinance is legal, but again warned that the board can not pick and chose what properties can be included. She suggested the more conservative way to deal with it would be to have a public hearing. Montzkaís map was approved 3-2 with Olseen, Montzka, Walker for and Gustafson and Robinson against. The board then proceeded to act on other zoning issues including changing the status of the board member who sits on the planning commission. The motion, which passed unanimously, makes an ex officio member of the county board liaison to the PC and also adds an additional at-large voting member to the group. At this point, Commissioner Gustafson moved to appoint Lin Strong to the new at-large position. Strong had applied under the advertised timeline to fill a vacant planning commission position last fall. County Administrator John Moosey verified the fact that Strong was the only person who met that deadline and was in fact, the only person applying for an advertised position last fall. He said she was placed on the agenda to be selected for the Dist. 2 position because she was the only applicant. In December, the board voted to re-appoint Jeff Schoen to that Dist. 2 position, even though he had not reapplied under the timeline. Olseen had informed the board then that Schoen was not aware he had to reapply for his position. A motion to re-appoint Marcus Clay to the open at-large position in December failed and Joan Barnes was appointed, 3-2, to that position. Gustafsonís motion to appoint Strong last week died for lack of a second. At this point, chairman Robinson, saying he had authority by state statute, began to appoint Strong to the new at-large position. Immediately, Commissioner Montzka challenged Robinson turning to the county attorney for an opinion on Robertís Rules of Order. After several minutes of outbreak, Montzka moved to present a challenge according to the rules of order. Montzkaís motion to challenge the chair, with a second from Olseen, was approved 3-2. Commissioner Walker then moved to advertise for the at-large position, which was posed as Option B on the resolution previously moved by Gustafson. Montzka seconded Walkerís motion and the vote was 3-2 to open the at-large position through advertising. ©ECM Post Review |