6.a Mann comments_Flying Colors Trapeze Circus Tent IUP _tabled_ issues.From:charles mann
To:TJ Hofer; Kyle Morell
Cc:b.eklund
Subject:Flying Colors Trapeze Circus Tent IUP "tabled" issues.
Date:Friday, November 10, 2023 3:41:19 PM
TJ & Kyle
I went to the city of Scandia web page to see if the Planning Commission’s November 7th meeting minutes
were posted yet. Do you know approximately how long from the actual meeting until the minutes are
posted? Now that the Planning Commission voted to table the IUP for Flying Colors Trapeze, to gather
further information, before the next meeting December 5th, I wanted to make sure I 'informationally’
addressed the 4 issues that seem to be the obstacle to a vote by the Planning Commission to, “Recommend”.
I am not sure how to proceed with officially submitting this information to the Planning Commission and
would appreciate your guidance in how to add this clarifying information for submission. Also if there is
other communication or questions I should be expecting to receive can you give me those time lines as well.
1. Parking Concerns: I can easily expand the field parking space to accommodate an additional 25 to 30
vehicles, bringing the total to up to between 65 and 75 spots. As I said at the meeting, during the 11 weeks
of camp there is only 1 day each week where there are ever more than 3 to 7 vehicles in the lot. Each Friday
from noon to 3 pm there is a camper show case where family and friends come and watch the children
perform what they have learned during the week. There have been some Friday’s where the audience was
larger than expected and some vehicles did park on the side of the road. It’s never been more than 3 to 8
vehicles, so adding the additional field parking spaces will allow plenty of buffer so that all vehicles can fit
during the Friday performances. If I should revise the site plan to show this change please let me know.
During normal rain summers we still need to mow down the grasses or the cars will end up parking in knee
high grasses - that is how few and infrequently vehicles actually park in the space. it is primarily used as a
safe drop off and pick up space. Some less rainy years during the 11 weeks of camp the vegetation
(grasses) in the field parking may get matted down. On drier years, but even during this last summer where
there was little to no rain, there was never a dust issue. Once camp is shut down for the year, the vegetation
(grasses) spring back to full bloom and it matches the remainder of the field grasses. A simple look at it this
fall will confirm the facts of what I am saying. Although it was an extremely dry summer the parking area
is in great shape. The field used for parking is now lush and green. Creating a permanent parking lot - it is
not necessary. Even expanding to 65 to 75 spaces is a bit of overkill.
2. Staff Housing: At the 11/7 meeting I spoke about the challenges of one staffing position - trapeze
catchers. The camps need 2 to 3 trapeze catchers each day of camp. As you might imagine it is easily the
most strenuous staff position and it is certainly the most physically skilled staff position needed. To be
direct, historically there are very few locally qualified individuals for the staff position of trapeze catching.
In the past we have needed to contract with out of state trapeze catchers to rotate into the camp weeks to
cover the daily needs. We have used the trailers to house the out of state catchers. The black water tanks on
the trailers are never used at any time during the summer.
The remaining non family staff positions are all local circus trained coaches and are not housed on our
property. They drive to and from the camp each day. The exception to the on site staff housing in the past
was due to the company that we contracted with for the Circus Horse Camps. They have had their own
human/horse trailer(s) that we have had on our property, in past years, for some, but not all, of the camp
weeks. This company traveled throughout the midwest during the summer and was not on our property for
the entire 11 weeks of camp - just intermittently. Although we will still offer Circus Horse Camps in 2024
the company will no longer have their human/horse trailer(s) on our property during the camp season.
3. Septic System Concerns: As stated at the 11/7 meeting we have an oversized Septic System. On our
new home build in 2014 we added a modern system with an overfill alarm system. If we had overuse issues
a loud siren and flashing red light would go off immediately and continue until the issue was addressed.
This has never happened. We paid $80K for the system and are strongly motivated by a personal desire not
to ruin it or create a large repair bill. The alarm has never triggered and if it did we would address the issue
immediately - we would move to porta-potties. Yes, there is additional demand on the system for the 11
weeks of camp, however this is more than off set by the lack of use the other 41 weeks of the year. Now
that our children are grown and moved away and my wife and i usually leave for 2 to 3 months in the winter
the system is either used just by the two of us or the individual house sitter we have living in the house,
feeding our cats while we are gone. There is an outhouse down at the lake for the swimming sessions. Any
septic concerns are unfounded.
4. Rain Impact from Circus Tent (Permeable or Impermeable) : Even though Watershed signed off on
the impact of the circus tent, my notes show that Mr. Loeffler from the Planning Commission still had
concerns on the water run off effects from the circus tent structure. Specifically, adding the class 5
limestone base made the approximately 2500 square feet forever impermeable with no rain water run off
plans. Hopefully this historical information on the space where the Circus Tent will be placed will help
assuage this concern.
When we had our septic system soil perk test done for the house build in 2013 it revealed a high clay
content in the soil area specifically where the Quonset is and behind it where the Circus Tent will now go.
In 2013 our original plan was to put in a conventional ground level septic system right in that location. The
perk test showed we needed a mound based septic set up. Knowing we had to have the mound system we
moved the location to a spot on the south side of our driveway that would hide a mound based from view
behind the fence. We also had the excavator grade the area where the Quonset and now Circus Tent site, so
that rain water would not just sit in this location and become a breeding ground for mosquitos. The grading
of the area, done way back in 2014 moves all the rain water over to the rain garden area highlighted in dark
blue on my site plan on our Northern property border.
The point of the narrative above is that that site area for the Circus Tent has always acted as an impermeable
surface. We already addressed this problem: Since 2014 any rain water that fell on the site where the Circus
Tent is planned has always flowed away from that spot to a less clay based soil area that easily absorbs even
the largest rain storms we have had in the last 9 summers. The original excavation fixed the issue of
standing water. We started adding Class 5 to that area 3 years ago and it continues to channel rain water
away perfectly to the area on our property that can functionally absorb rain water.
That is all I have from my notes from the meeting. After the minutes of the meeting are publicly published
I will review them to see if there are other issues I didn’t address.
I hope to hear from you on next required steps or input as soon as possible.
Regards,
Chuck Mann