The Clear Lake Twp. Board convened Tuesday evening via Zoom, their first time meeting in a virtual format. The format was made possible in part due to the CARES Act dollars the board spent for technology upgrades as part of the new Township Hall construction. Deputy-Clerk Gary Anderson coordinated the online format, which went off without a hitch.
Chairman Gary Gray reported on the calls for service in the township from the Sheriff’s Office, and the numbers were way up from the usual with 99 total calls. Traffic stops accounted for the increase, as there were 51 conducted during January.
Bud Stimmler reported that the new signage for the Township Park has been received and will be installed when the weather warms up. The signs will note that the park is closed from sunset to sunrise and no golf carts are permitted on the walking trails.
Supervisor Ross Imholte reported that the fill station heater has been installed and the Clear Lake Fire Dept. has plans to test its winter functionality later this month.
Road Report
Twp. Engineer Terrance Vander Eyk brought forward three items for consideration by the board, each of which passed unanimously.
The first item was a joint powers agreement to use Sherburne County as the bidding authority for the Sherwood Shores road project. This should allow for the township to receive more favorable bids than if they did the project on their own.
Next, a LRIP Grant for 90th avenue was discussed. According to Eyk, the total project would be in the range of $1.4 million and the state would foot the bill for $1.25 million. The proposed construction would happen in 2023 and would upgrade the road to a 10-ton road with four foot shoulders.
Although the grant application is expected to be competitive state wide, it was noted that 90th Ave. is a farm to Market Rd., had high use and connects a county road with a CSAH route.
“I think we have a reasonable shot at it,” said Eyk, noting that the board was approving the application only, and not committing to any funds at this time.
Sherburne County is expected to offer its support in favor of the grant application as well.
“It’s worth the effort if we could get the funding and re-do the road,” added Gray.
In final road action, the supervisors approved a resolution of support for a project to address 97th St., a road that comes through both the township and city of Becker and connects through Clear Lake to Hwy. 10.
Becker Twp. is taking the lead on the grant proposal, but Gray and Eyk met with their engineer, Wes Davis, and endorsed supporting the plan since it crosses three local governmental units. Reconstruction of the road could help all of Sherburne County with an east-west connection, something that is a scarcity at this point.
Variance
Juli and Wayne Schluchter joined the meeting to seek a pair of variances for their home in Sherwood Shores. They plan to demolish the existing structure and rebuild a new home in basically the same footprint. Stimmler did a site visit earlier Tuesday and he saw no issues with the proposal, so the rest of the board concurred and sent a positive comment to Sherburne County for zoning consideration.
Solar
Cullen Kobayashi next appeared before the board and was seeking an IUP for a one megawatt solar garden on the Golly property.
“We’ve done a lot of these, probably 10 so we are used to seeing them,” said Gray, who noted that the township would require chain link fencing instead of the welded mesh wire in the original proposal.
Sherburne County had also requested a driveway relocation, which the township agreed with.
Kobayashi noted that he was comfortable with all of the requirements and thanked the board for its positive comment for the project. As usual, trees will be required around the outer perimeter of the solar farm.
Upcoming
The community meetings with the Sherwood Shores residents had been canceled for this week and will be rescheduled for April. Notices will again be sent out and the board is hoping for more participation so questions regarding the project can be answered before it happens and not after the fact.
The Annual Meeting is still scheduled to be held in person on March 9 after the election but Anderson and Gray are working on virtual options in case it would be necessary.
After skipping last year due to COVID-19, the township is planning to offer Clean Up Day this year on May 1 from 7:30 a.m. until 11:30 a.m. It will be held for the first time at the new Township Hall, so Anderson and Eyk agreed to work together on a traffic flow plan to ease any possible congestion during the event, which is expected to draw a big crowd after the one year hiatus.
The next regular meeting of the town board will be on March 16.
