In a split vote last week, the Sherburne County Board approved an Interim Use Permit (IUP) for a haunted trail on a 5.97-acre parcel on 169th Street in Orrock Twp.

The board had tabled a vote a month earlier to give the planning and zoning department more time to review and modify the conditions of the IUP.    

The applicant was requesting the IUP for a haunted trail event to be held Fridays and Saturdays throughout the month of October each year. There are 20 structures on the property with 16 that are walk-through and four that are walk-by, along with a walking bridge over a pond. Hours are listed as 7-10 p.m., plus one Saturday afternoon from 2-4 p.m. for children.

At the October meeting, members of the board had concerns about safety and security, parking on township roads, defining excessive noise, dust, fumes and lights, inspections of some of the buildings and liability to the county if someone was injured on the site.

Last week, the board continued their discussion for another 20 minutes on some of the conditions.

Commissioner Gregg Felber reiterated his opinion that the site was just too small for such an event.

“As much as I respect people being able to have a good time, and as much as I think it’s a good charitable organization, it’s simply on too small of a property,” he said. “This particular event involves constant loud noise in the dark every weekend in October. The neighbors want to be able to sit there and have a quiet bonfire and everything else people like to do outdoors in October. It’s the wrong game in the wrong neighborhood.”

Commissioner Andrew Hulse said he was concerned about the parking situation. He said there should be no on-street parking. All the parking should be on the property.

And he questioned how overflow parking would be handled once all 28 spaces on site were filled.

“How would people know that parking is full? Did we think through that at all? Did the applicant talk about how they would manage that?” he asked. “I’m not quite sure how they would deal with the fact that someone shows up and the parking lot is full.”

Commissioner Felber agreed the parking would be an issue.

“You’re going to put the sheriff’s department right in the middle of a bunch of additional conflict,” he said.

After further discussion, the conditions were modified to include no on-street parking, an attendance management plan and limiting the IUP to one year. The applicant could operate in 2025, but must re-apply for 2026.

Commissioners Raenanne Danielowski, Lisa Fobbe, Gary Gray and Hulse voted in favor. Commissioner Felber voted against.

Consulting Agreement

The board approved a Professional Services Agreement with Emmons & Olivier Resources, (EOR) Inc. to provide professional solid waste consulting services at a budgeted amount of $75,000.

EOR will assist the county with groundwater review, assess current groundwater corrective action measures and review and assess any proposed expansion plans as they may pertain to area landfills.

Prosecuting Agreement

The board approved an agreement to prosecute state law violations within the newly-formed City of Baldwin, effective Nov. 18 to Dec. 31.  

The county attorney has been asked to provide the service (similar to the service provided to Becker, Big Lake and Clear Lake). The city receives fine money for incidents that occur within city boundaries. Under the proposed agreement, the fines will be returned to the county to offset the cost of the prosecution service.

Other Business

In other actions the board:

• Approved the donation of 30 older 3M gas masks from the Sheriff’s Office to the Big Lake and Becker Police Departments. Each department will receive 15 masks;

• Accepted a donation of 48 decommissioned emergency/early warning sirens from Xcel Energy to the Sheriff’s Office.