by Carrie Moritz
The June 3, 2019 meeting of the Garretson City Council looked at the platting and lot sizes of the new Valley View Addition and updates on construction for 5th Street.
The meeting began with the Pledge of Allegiance and approval of the consent agenda. All council members except Bill Hoskins were in attendance.
The Parks Board gave an update on the placement of the benches to be placed around Splitrock Park, Devil’s Gulch, the Jaycee Complex, and downtown. The estimates on tuck pointing and picnic shelter were still in process. Landscaping around the Jaycee Complex sign at the corner of Dows and Center should be started on or around June 11. The Garretson FFA and leader Alysha Kientopf are spearheading the project, and the Parks Board is excited to see what the group has planned for that area.
The council then moved on to variance requests. The first two were regarding a deck and a fence, both of which were approved unanimously.
The third was a variance request from Kelly Nielson of Nielson Construction out of Baltic. He is the developer for the Valley View addition that is being placed east of Sarah C Street, and he was requesting a lot width of 60 feet per lot, 6 feet narrower than minimum city ordinance. Most residents of Sarah C Street were in attendance, and council member Richelle Hofer recused herself as a council person during the discussion and joined as a community member. Residents were concerned that the narrower lots would substantially decrease aesthetics and property values.
Nielson noted that if 66’ lots were required, two fewer lots would be able to be utilized, and it would require the size of the house to decrease to compensate for the overall price he was attempting to sell the homes at. He was planning to begin the development with a $230,000 price point and a minimum 1000 square foot frontage. He passed around photos showcasing his homes on 50’ lots, noting that his houses’ footprints usually have no issues on lots that size even with a 3-stall garage, and that most people actually buy their homes for the price point, not for the lot size.
The council then discussed drainage for the area. Mayor Greg Beaner asked if the discharge of water had been taken into account in the platting, and Infrastructure Design’s Chad Hanisch responded that it had. Water would be discharging into a farmer’s property to the south, and discussions with him had not produced any concern.
Moving back to the discussion about the variance required for 60’ lots, the council then asked about potentially having covenants built into sales of the lots, so if another builder came in, they could be expected to follow the minimum 1000 sq ft frontage that Nielson was building. While he initially demurred on this, the council eventually insisted a minimum covenant be instated as a condition of allowing the variance, though they could not require them. Upon reassurance that he would do that, the council passed the variance unanimously. Nielson plans to begin building as soon as possible and is only waiting on subcontractors at this point.
The council then moved on to platting for the addition. Nielson had designed the development to end in a cul-de-sac, with three large lots on it. The cul de sac would line up with the ones at the end of Jacob Circle and Leslie Drive, creating a third non-through street in the area.
The developer was asked if he’d be able to fit one more lot into the area if he eliminated the cul-de-sac, and Nielson responded that it would, but he was attempting to accommodate demands that had been given to him when he bought the development. According to Nielson, a cul de sac encourages home sale prices to increase instead of decrease. He also noted that the potential $400,000 houses he could place on that spot would match well with the two streets to the north.
City Maintenance Supervisor Craig Nussbaum spoke out against the cul de sac, arguing that costs to maintain are much higher and that they had likely killed development in other areas of town. Hanisch said that water and sewer would also likely affect building in the middle lot as well.
Nielson responded that if he did a through street, it would be a dead-end area until the land to the east was developed, which could be many years. This impacts fire truck access and turnaround, as well as plow turnaround. Homeowners currently at the end of Sarah C Street spoke out, saying they already see a high number of vehicles turning around in their driveways due to the dead end. The council decided to call a vote on the development as presented by the developer.
When votes were taken, 3 voted for and one against, causing it to die for lack of majority (as Hofer was recused and Hoskins was not in attendance). The no vote was registered by council member Tom Godbey, who said he was looking at long-term development. With three cul de sacs, another road would have to take the brunt of any new development to the east.
The council responded that Lacey Avenue was set up to be able to go all the way to the gravel road to the south, and council member Jodi Gloe argued that any vote denying the plat was not fair to Nielson, who had bought the development on the presumption that what he was told by the development corporation is what was needed, and that the development needed to go ahead. Godbey replied that he was not willing to hold back development, and to hold the vote again. On the second try, it passed unanimously.
The final items on the agenda regarded Ordinances 642 to 645, which City Finance Officer Anna Uhl recommended the council read and suggest changes over the next month, as the full document was rather extensive. Each of them dealt with building and maintenance codes. Next was the annual application for a fireworks sale permit, which is requested each year by Bev Howe in order to sell fireworks at a stand by Palisades Oil. The permit was passed, as was a request for the abatement of property taxes.
Next, Mayor Greg Beaner discussed the possibility of posting a No Diving/No Jumping Off Bridge sign near the Crappie Bridge in Splitrock Park. He seemed to recall an earlier council meeting had requested one to be placed, and other council members reminded him that the city attorney had recommended a Swim at Your Own Risk sign instead due to liability reasons. Park Board member Colleen Collier said a sign was put up last year, but it had fallen over due to the ice floes, and Parks Maintenance Supervisor Randy Megard was waiting for the ground to dry in order for it to be replaced. The council recommended the Parks Board look into a more comprehensive sign, perhaps one that warned the “quiet” and “deep” water under the Crappie Bridge could be anything but. The representatives for the Parks Board agreed to talk about it and come up with a recommendation at a future meeting.
Next, Mayor Beaner officially re-appointed Bruce Rekstad and Carrie Moritz to the Parks Board. Council member Hofer questioned the potential conflict of interest that Rekstad could have toward the parks as he is the campground manager, but Gloe, who is appointed to the Parks Board as council member, responded that those concerns had been addressed in a prior Parks Board meeting. She felt that if the Parks Board was making administrative decisions, the status of Rekstad could pose a conflict, but since it can only make recommendations and the final decision always rests with the council before any action is taken, then the conflict was not so bad. She also noted how he was a great resource to have on the board. After that concern was addressed, the council voted unanimously to confirm the appointments.
Next on the agenda was a renewal of the lease for land between railroad property and “Fort Jake,” the large shed off Granite Avenue and 1st Street. Dwayne “Jake” Jacobson leases the city-owned land behind his property, and has cared for it well according to the council. A question was brought up about some of his storage pods on the property, and it was noted that he does have a conditional use permit for them. Council member Dave Bonte said that permit may need to be revisited, as the code enforcement officer has already brought them up to Uhl. The lease agreement was passed then without further discussion.
The final piece on the agenda was an update on construction, starting with the 5th Street water project. Uhl said the construction had been stopped due to not only groundwater saturation issues, but the company had been called to an emergency in a nearby town that required immediate attention (not this company’s fault, but they were the closest one in proximity to be able to take care of the issue). She was hopeful they would be able to re-start soon and said the company had been great to work with so far.
One piece that did need to be addressed was the possibility of adding a second pipe across the river along Highway 11 when the first is installed, since the cost is for digging the trench and not for the actual pipe. The council agreed that this water project was a direct result of a second pipe not being installed the last time the river was crossed along 5th Street, and thought this may help to stave off future issues and costs. It was suggested that perhaps Alliance may even want to use the piping, and if so, that there’s a possibility of some cost-sharing. Council member Bonte agreed to contact Alliance Communications to see if that was something they would be interested in.
There was then a quick update on 3rd Street/Main Street construction, where Uhl said that prior issues had been resolved and they were progressing nicely. All future bills from Haarsma Construction were now slated to go through Cole at Sayre Associates, limiting some issues. Uhl also said the construction company was not following the original schedule completely to plan due to the concrete company’s schedule.
The council then voted to go into Executive Session and adjourned.
