The board also discussed updates and the need to obtain signatures from property owners in the 64th St./36th Ave. area before a planned road improvement project can be put out for bids, approved a recommended levy for the March annual meeting, approved the annual meeting agenda, and heard the annual report from Sherburne County Sheriff Joel Brott. Creation of a “road order” for a short section of Co. Rd. 91 was also on the agenda. 

 

 

Sherburne County Planner Jon Sevald appeared before the board Monday night to ask that they consider a proposal to allow home-based businesses on property adjoining the Mississippi River in Haven Township.  Sevald stated the changes made by the Minnesota legislature in 2009 now make it possible for such businesses to be created by homeowners under certain conditions.

 

Chairman Jeff Schlingmann asked:  “Why, when the county wants to preserve recreational land, would they want to open up the river to these types of businesses?”  He went on to ask: “Why even think of putting it in the most fragile scenic river site?”  Schlingmann went on to say that he feels it is “beyond belief that the county would come out here and do this.”

 

Vice-Chairman Mark Knowles stated that the proposed home business exceptions in the proposal “do not make sense,” while Supervisor Kathy Sims-Kosloski said that property owners in the area making such requests should have known about the restrictions when they purchased their lands.  Schlingmann further stated that the township “will take over its own zoning if the county persists in this activity.”  Haven Township already does control zoning in the area covered by the “orderly annexation” agreement with the City of St. Cloud.

 

Sevald stated that it was “part of his job to come before the board to ask these questions”, wherein Knowles closed out the conversation by kindly telling Sevald that:”If he had a good vehicle, he should use it.”

 

 

Knowles told the board that a number of property owners in the area of the new construction project on 64th St./36th Ave. had expressed concerns over potential damage to trees and other problems with the proposed work in the temporary 15-foot right-of-way easement the plan calls for.

 

Knowles stated he can “see both sides” in the problem, with the engineering plan calling for a uniform 15-foot easement which is causing some concern to property owners, while the construction firms may not be able to guarantee the preservation of certain trees or landscape features and still do the project.

 

Schlingmann said the township does not intend to “clear cut” or “decimate” any of the property involved, but that the uniform easement is also needed for the township to have a “hold harmless” clause attached to the project.  Sims-Kosloski also said she had some difficulty with the “strong language” in the easement agreement.   Supervisor Mike Pesch said he perceived a “precision problem” in that construction equipment cannot always guarantee that tree roots or other elements will not be damaged in the process of working. Knowles said that the finished “back sloping” on the project is the current “bone of contention” with property owners, and he offered to display the plans and provide detailed information to any property owners in attendance, which were several.

 

Following the discussion, the board unanimously approved a motion from Pesch for a uniform 15-foot easement in the construction zone.  Schlingmann noted again at the conclusion of the discussion that the township must have the easement agreements with the property owners signed before the project can be placed out on bids.

 

 

The proposed 2015 budget for presentation at the annual meeting calls for a levy of $370,000, with $55,000 going into the general fund, $270,000 into the road and bridge fund and $45,000 into the fire fund.  The levy total is the same as the amount approved in the previous year, according to Treasurer Randy Linn.  The figure was approved unanimously by the board for presentation.

 

The board also approved the agenda for the 2014 annual meeting, which will include the reading of the minutes from the 2013 annual meeting, reports from the clerk and fire and road and bridge accounts, approval of the budget and levy for 2015, date for clean-up day, the gopher bounty, donations to the Sherburne Historical Society and the Clearwater Library, and setting the date for the next annual meeting (March 10, 2015).

 

 

Sherburne County Sheriff Joel Brott provided the board with his annual report for 2013, which indicated that there had been 827 calls for service in Haven Township during that year.  The figure for 2012 was just over 700 calls, Brott stated, and the 2011 total was 545.

 

Crime statistics for 2013 listed four assaults in Haven Township, two burglary cases, one narcotics investigation and eight Driving Under the Influence arrests.  In the same period there were three cases of criminal sexual conduct, nine thefts, four criminal damage to property reports and zero homicides.  On the charts presented, criminal sexual conduct, theft and criminal damage to property rates were lower than the two previous years across Haven Township.

 

 

The board considered and approved a road order dedicating the 66-foot right-of-way to the township from the property owners, Richard and Carol Tembreull and Elnora Dresow.  The road order established a town road for the former Co. Rd. 91, with the right-of-way dedicated to the township “as any other right-of-way” which they maintain.