1-23-97 gr mgmt task forceJanuary 23, 1997
The Growth Management Task Force (GMTF) met on this date.
In attendance were: Co -Chairs Blair Josleyn and Kevin Nickelson,
Dan Booren, Bill Plowman, Charlie Ellis, John Borchert, LaVayne
Dupslaff, Gary Hogle, Richard Tetzlaff, Terry Dreyer, Mary Lanz,
Colleen Firkus and Consultant Peggy Reichert. The GMTF was
joined by Town Board members Chuck Nordin and Paul Rasmussen.
The GMTF requested the Town Board attend the meeting to get
feedback on the direction the task force is heading. Ms.
Reichert recapped past work sessions and presented an overview of
the four Land Use Plan alternatives for the Board. The GMTF
affirmed alternative Plan 5 - a hybrid of Plans 2 and 3 - as a
possible Land Use Plan to guide future development. The Town
Board indicated they thought Plan 5 would be acceptable to the
community and that the Township sees the need to become more
involved in guiding how future residential development. The
Board suggested Plan 5 be shown to Washington County to see if it
would be acceptable within the County's plans.
The next step is to decide how to guide future residential
development. A key decision is to decide if the focus will be on
protecting farmland and/or open space to preserve "rural
character". If protecting farming is the objective, then the
Township could encourage development on small lots adjacent to
town center and in substantially developed S acre areas. These
high densities will need to be offset with lower densities
elsewhere in the 1/20 AG areas. Large parcel owners would
allowed to develop and realize a financial return, but choices
could be limited to selling large lots (20 acres), or lot
averaging and clustering with max lot size of 2 acres. Mr.
Dupslaff pointed out that max lot size of 2 acres may not be
feasible as one acre of buildable is currently required by the
County. The Township needs to decide the long term anticipated
or desired use of remaining large tracts. Small lots could be
clustered around edges of farmland to protect farming, but that
could result in homes being located in a string along the roads
destroying the feel of open space. If limiting overall
population, preserving open space and maintaining the rural feel
of the community is the objective, small lots may need to be
clustered at a significant distance from major roads and screened
by vegetation.
Mr. Joselyn suggested letters be sent to Scandia residents
in the near future to invite them to a public meeting and get
their feedback. It was decided to first have subcommittee work
sessions to iron out details, have task force members convey
their concerns/questions to Ms. Reichert, present results to the
Town Board after annual election in March, then set a time for a
public forum. According to Mr. Nickelson, the County's zoning
changes will not take affect for at least three months. The
Township will then be under the County's zoning ordinances unless
given a grace period. Projects in progress must have a
preliminary plat submitted to be grandfathered.
Colleen Firkus
Secretary