The Becker City Council met July 30 instead of last Tuesday due to the Night to Unite event Aug. 6.

Rezoning of Property

Community Development Director Marie Pflipsen presented an ordinance proposal to rezone annexed property from agricultural to power generation-industrial and public.

Pflipsen said that in 2018, the city annexed an area for the proposed Jet Stream LLC data center and  as required by the city code — that property, upon annexation, was zoned agricultural (AG). The property owners have requested that the property be rezoned to power generation - industrial (I-PG) and public (PUB) to allow for the proposed data center to be a permitted use for the property. Pflipsen said the proposed rezoning is in conformance with the surrounding area and land use plan. 

Data Center Definition

Pflipsen said upon review of the city code’s definition of “data center,” staff proposed minor editing to the definition.

Data Center verbiage was added to include the following: “Data center” means one or more centralized location(s) where computing and networking equipment is concentrated for the purpose of collecting, storing, processing, distributing, or allowing access to large amounts of data, including storing and indexing web sites, running e-mail and instant messaging services, providing cloud storage and applications, and enabling a host of other capabilities, along with all related and appurtenant buildings and facilities. 

Private Well & Septic

Pflipsen said Northstar Bank Owner Matt Westin  applied for a conditional use permit (CUP) for a private well and septic system to be installed on the property identified as 60-129-3105. 

Pflipsen said the property is currently zoned R-2 (medium density- residential) which requires that properties be served by city water and sewer. She said the property has an existing single-family home that has been vacant for several years and would be considered a non-conforming use. A private well and septic for a single-family home would not be in conformance with the City’s comprehensive land use plan and would prevent the future orderly development of the area. 

IP Expansion Award

Randy Sabart of SEH said bids for the 2019 business park expansion were opened at city hall July 24 and the low bid submitted was from R.L. Larson Excavating, Inc. of St. Cloud in the amount of $5,784,233.81.

City council approved the submitted bid and told Sabart to enter into an agreement with RL Larson Excavating, Inc. for the purpose of completing the 2019 Business Park expansion.

TEDI Grant

Pflipsen said Sherburne County is in the process of applying for a Transportation Economic Development Infrastructure (TEDI) Program grant. She said the grant funds would assist with the reconstruction and expansion of Co. Rd. 53 to provide access to the data center site and expanded Becker Business Park. Sherburne County has requested the city sign a letter of support for the road project grant application, which they did. 

Tobacco Ordinance

Police Chief Brent Baloun said Sherburne County Public Health and the county attorney’s office recently approached the City of Becker for support of their proposed Tobacco 21 Ordinance. 

Baloun said the ordinance would raise the legal age within Sherburne County from 18 years of age to purchase tobacco products to 21 years of age. 

Currently, over 40 counties (as of July 23, 2019) have already raised the age to 21. Benton County has already approved this ordinance and Stearns and Wright Counties are in the process. 

Baloun says current tobacco use by kids under the legal age have gone up and  he thinks this is one way to hopefully combat the number of kids that are coming into possession of tobacco products. In addition, he said, the schools are seeing an ever-increasing number of kids vaping and using tobacco products. 

Baloun presented a fact sheet and handed out copies to the council,

Amanda Larson from Sherburne County Public Health was in attendance at the council meeting and further discussed what the county is proposing and why they are pursuing it. Larson asked council for a letter of support or a resolution supporting Sherburne County’s effort to increase the age from 18 to 21 prior to the next County Board meeting. 

Up Next

The next Becker City Council meeting is Aug. 20 at 5 p.m.