By Jill Fennema –

Last week’s city council meeting was almost entirely taken up with discussion of whether the city council should allow living space in a commercial building in the Industrial Park.

Ron and Kim Menning would like to expand their gun shop and add living quarters to the shop. Mennings purchased additional land from Troy Veld north and northwest of their existing building, which is located at the corner of Industrial Street and 2nd Ave North.

Part of their building plan called for building closer to the lot line than allowed by city ordinance. The current ordinance requires a 20-foot setback, but the Menning’s plan would have put a sun room/porch a few inches shy of 10 feet from the lot line.

The mayor opened the public meeting for the variance, but it was soon noted by the clerk and the city attorney that there was an additional need – a conditional use permit (CUP). According to city attorney Ben Denton, residential use of an industrial building requires a CUP and that notice should have been in the paper along with the variance request.

A neighboring landowner, Andy Kooiker, owner of K & M Concrete, was also at the meeting to express concerns about residential use of industrial or commercially zoned property.

“I don’t have a problem with someone having a business there and then a “shouse,” he said. “I’m concerned with the further-out affects of letting housing happen in a commercial property. If Ron quits selling guns, does he have to move? If Abby stops doing taxidermy, do they have to move?

Kooiker, while supportive of Menning’s endeavor, doesn’t like having residential in the industrial park.

The matter was tabled until the proper advertising for Menning’s CUP could be done. A special meeting will be held on Thursday, June 24, at 7 p.m. for the purposes of considering the CUP, variance, and building permit. (See the sidebar for some history on what the council has considered in the past regarding residential use in the Industrial Park).

City Clerk Joel Farrington also presented information about a resolution for the EDA. The EDA- the Edgerton Economic Development Authority – was organized in 1988, but bylaws were not adopted until 1991. Documentation on what the EDA can and cannot do, what they need council authority to do, and what they can do on their own authority was not well documented.

The council approved a resolution updating the bylaws and outlining in clear terms what the EDA can and cannot do, and when and where a conflict of interest may exist.

In other matters, the council heard from Farrington that the city did not receive the Local Road Improvement Grant. He explained that it was a highly competitive grant with 103 small cities applying and only 16 receiving the grant. This grant would have helped pay for the repaving of a portion of Main Street in conjunction with the Capital Improvement Plan.

The city will also need to resubmit their environmental review for the state. The first report did not give an account for the Topeka Shiner and a certain type of fern that grows in wetlands.

By the time this edition of the paper is being read, the city’s deadline for submitted bids for the Brands property will have arrived. Once the bids are opened, a committee will look at the bids, looking at the price offered, the move date, and the location the house would be moved to.

The city only has one contract signed on the discounted lots in the Northwest Addition. One buyer pulled out. “It appears that the cost of goods is the reason,” Joel said. ”People are just concerned.”

There has been no interest expressed on the south side lots that are free with a ten year agreement. Joel thought that the city should work with the architects at the Southwest Minnesota Housing Partnership to develop some ideas for those lots.

Farrington is also working on a possible twin home on the city’s property in the 1000 block of Mechanic Street. The property has a prescriptive easement with the “Hop House.” Farrington is proceeding with plans with an architect to design a twin home there. The city would not move forward on building the project until a buyer for the first half was secured.

A building permit was approved for Leland and Linda Vanderaa to add to the back of their house.

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