The Sherburne County Board met Tuesday and dealt with several zoning approvals as part of a shorter than usual agenda.
Planning and Zoning Administrator Nancy Riddle brought forward a total of seven items for the commissioners to consider for final approval.
The first five items dealt with the development of plats in Baldwin Twp. and had been recommended for approval by the Planning Advisory Commission. The projects were all approved unanimously, with the recommended conditions, and included the Sumser Farm, Buck Run, Country Oak Meadows, Lindquist Acres and Hunter Estates projects.
The board also approved a CUP for a seasonal storage structure in Haven Twp. and a zoning approval for Benson Estates in Livonia Twp.
Tax Abatement
The board next considered a tax abatement for Sportech, LLC, which currently leases two facilities in Elk River. The company is currently considering a 91,050 square foot expansion to the facility located at 10752 168th Circle. The project is expected to add 85 full time jobs at the company and an estimated $10,000,000 annual impact on the county’s economy after completion.
The company has previously received an abatement on the property, but is seeking a proposed 12 year abatement on the new facility. According to the information in the commissioner’s packet, the tax abatement program allows the county to abate the property taxes when it can determine that the economic benefits of the new expansion will exceed the amount of taxes being abated. There is also usually a 15 year limit on the abatement unless all taxing jurisdictions agree to forego collecting the new taxes for a period of time.
The board approved sending a letter to the Elk River school district, asking for the tax abatement which would then be combined with the original and capped at the 15 year mark, instead of extending it to a full 20 years.
SCORE
The board granted approval to the SCORE Program line item budget and included a 50% match from the county to the $276,968 of funding it received from the State of Minnesota. While statute requires a 25% match, matching at the higher amount will allow the county to fund more programs. SCORE funds are instrumental in providing the necessary funding for items such as a city or township clean up day. The matching money is taken from the solid waste surcharge fees collected by the county and not general tax revenue.
The new funds allocated this year will specifically address $40,000 to be used towards a business recycling bin program.
7W Funding
Public Works Director Andrew Witter appeared before the board to discuss sending a letter of concern to the District 7W Transportation Policy Board.
District 7W is the consortium of governmental entities that work together to prioritize state funding through the State Block Grant Program.
Witter presented several concerns, including a change in which criteria are used for ranking the transportation funding projects in the area. Historically, the Transportation Policy Board (TPB) oversees the determination of the criteria and also approves the funding requests based on a MN DOT approved scoring evaluation done by a Technical Advisory Committee (TAC).
Basically, the TAC uses MnDOT guidelines (scoring by a MnDOT employee) to look at the technical aspects of the projects and assigns a priority ranking to the ones which will have the most impact. Then, the TPB reviews the recommendations and a makes a final determination, which in this year’s action would be to prioritize funds for 2025.
This year, the TAC changed the criteria and added some additional ones, even though that task is usually reserved for the TPB.
Witter’s other concern about the process included that there is no lead time given to the TAC members to review the application before the actual meeting. This affects everyone’s ability to dig deeper into the projects and to accurately score the significance of the project, as they are given very little time to review the information.
This year, Sherburne’s two projects that were up for consideration and were ranked as numbers one and two by the MnDOT employee, who gives an objective, unbiased ranking. However, at this year’s meeting, cost justification and equity were added by a vote of the TAC, significantly changing the rankings.
The board had discussion about the process and also the need to work together with the surrounding governmental entities who are a part of the process. However, because it appears that this year’s TAC process stepped outside the normal operating protocols, they approved sending the letter of concern. The letter will also address the lead time given to people on both the TPB and TAC to ensure they can sufficiently review the projects.
Covid-19
County staffers Nicole Ruhoff and Amanda Larson combined to give the board an update on COVID numbers, as well as vaccination efforts.
Ruhoff noted a continued decline in COVID numbers in the county, while Larson reported that the county continues to vaccinate residents as they receive the allocations of vaccine. Twenty-three percent of the county residents ages 65 or older have been inoculated with at least one dose of a vaccine.
Working with local pharmacies and also utilizing the “MyChart” features in a person’s health records continue to be the best way to access the limited appointments.
Larson also presented the county’s Field Operations Guide for the commissioners to review and adopt. The “FOG” as it was called helps in outlining the county’s priorities and assures that all MDH guidelines are followed. It is also an important layer of transparency for everyone in Sherburne County to know how the vaccination decisions are being determined.
Dan Weber finished up the COVID briefing by noting that Sherburne County has received 173 total applications for its latest round of business relief, which opened approximately six weeks ago. By contrast, the county received a total of 141 CARES Act applications in four months when that program first launched.
Weber reported that nearly $1 million has been awarded to local businesses in the latest round of relief.
