In a nearly two-and-a-half-hour meeting Monday, the Becker Twp. Board dealt with a secondary access permit, drainage easement issues, a variance request, bid openings for road projects and snow removal, street culverts and updates on the fire board, county parks and trails and Hwy. 25 corridor information.

 

Ben Miller was joined by several area residents who received letters in the mail, asking them to rectify situations in the township right-of-ways that show headwalls and other obstructions along people’s driveways and properties.

 

Miller said he was told he had to fix the “headwall” along his property that wasn’t properly graded. Miller asked Engineer Wes Davis of Bogart Pederson, “what exactly is a headwall?”

 

Before getting the answer, Miller said he looked the information up and told the board he doesn’t believe his driveway situation presents a headwall.

 

Other people in the audience also said they received letters instructing them to “fix” thier obstructions or face a misdemeanor charge if they fail to do so.

 

Davis and Nick Anderson (Bogart Pederson) and several board members reminded the residents that the property along roads from 33-feet in front he middle of the road — is actually township property. Citizens were told the township has to protect themselves from liability should a vehicle leave the road and hit an obstruction like the ones identified.

 

Jennifer Axelton said she has a retaining wall built to help hold up the driveway on both sides that — according to the letter she received — is too close to the road. Board members told her and her husband that the wall should come down and a slope with proper ratio (4-to-1) be built in its place.

 

“The reason we are doing this is to protect our liability,” said Chairman Brian Kolbinger. “It’s not just cars we are worried about but vehicles that use those ditches such as motorcycles and ATVs.”

 

Jeremy Monnier brought forth a request to have a secondary access constructed to the east side of his property.

 

Engineer Davis said he had been out to the property and found no objection to the request.

 

Monnier plans to install a 12-foot-wide driveway of gravel six feet from the eastern-most part of the property.

 

Twp. approved.

 

Two property owners — the Rushfords and the Tabakos — came before the board to request an easement and a possible boundary adjustment.

 

Carol Rushford owns a piece of property that has a deck (and part of home) built into the drainage easement of their property. It is also right along the property line and the Tabakos are in the process of selling their property and would like to get the boundary situation remedied.

 

Attorney Kelli Bourgeois said the process can be done where new boundary lines will be drawn to accommodate the two parcels. She insisted when the surveyor comes out, to ensure the two lots remain at 2.5 acres.

 

Both parties agreed to work with the township and fill out necessary applications and paperwork to have the new boundaries adjusted.

 

Carefree Country Club

Carefree Country Club requested a 30-ft. variance from Becker Twp. for a campsite property near Fredericks Slough.

 

The required setback is 150-ft. and the campsite is 120-ft. from the slough. Sherburne County zoning asked that the township provide comments as needed after reviewal before the application can be submitted to the county.

 

Twp. board gave their “thumbs up” for the project.

 

Snow Plowing Contract

Four bids for the snow and ice control two-year contract with the township were opened and reviewed Monday.

 

ML Schiendzelos & Sons, Prescription Landscaping, JME Companies and Wruck Excavating were the bidding contractors.

 

Wruck Excavating was awarded the contract tentatively upon verification of all documents and quantities. Brad Wilkening and Joe Danielson will do the extensive review and awarded the contract subsequently.

 

Three bids were opened for the rip-rap project along 82nd Street.

 

Schiendzelos, Wruck and Imholte submitted bids and Schiendzelos was awarded the project with a low bid of $3,038.

 

The board spent a wealth of time discussing road signage and the township’s policy.

 

After a resident stopped in recently and asked about “curve ahead” signs that were missing north of Woodland and East Beatrice, the board has decided to review their policy and reconsider signage priorities.

 

The resident said the curve signs and a couple stop signs were taken down in the spring and been replaced with yield signs, which the resident deemed as being “dangerous”.

 

The resident also said trees need to be trimmed back and there has been a lot of speeding since the speed signs have also been removed.

 

Anderson said he changed the policy to reflect new verbiage and made suggestions to the board for possibly reinstituting some signs.

 

The board plans to review the policy and make considerations for certain rural residential districts in the township.

 

• The board promised to look into an issue involving horse feces in Scenic Hills and Aspen Ridge following a few complaints;

 

• Tim Peterson was appointed to the planning commission;

 

• The fire board met and approved their 2018 fire budget;

 

• 185th Avenue has a start date of Sept. 11 for reclaiming and in the meantime will have some potholes patched;

 

• The Hwy. 25 corridor committee is working on a transportation study before moving ahead with any other projects;

 

• The sheriff’s department reported 174 calls for service with 66 being for traffic and several calls coming in on a fraud charge (Publisher’s Clearing House attempt).

 

The next Becker Twp. Board meeting is Aug. 21 at 7 p.m.