Pictured: Darwin Schuld owns this home at 301 W. Howard Street. He plans to sell it to Chandler Co-op, which has the agronomy center that is visible in the background of the photo. The co-op plans to build a large storage shed on the property after the home is removed.

By Jill Fennema –

The Edgerton City Council meeting last week Wednesday was well attended by the general public. There were six members of the public on hand, along with four people bringing business before the council. 

The reason for the high attendance was a request by Chandler Co-op for a variance to build a commercial building on a lot that currently has a house on it. 

Deputy Clerk Mary Kreun explained at the outset of the public hearing that a group of properties on the west end of Howard Street have been mistakenly labeled on the zoning map as “limited industry,” when they are in fact residential lots. The lots in question are owned by Jeff Van Dyke, Norm and Glenda Van Dyke, and Darwin Schuld.

Schuld would like to sell his property to the Chandler Co-op. The Co-op Agronomy Center, which is located directly south of these three lots, would like to purchase the lot, remove the house, and build a 148’x72’ storage shed there. Chandler Co-op Manager Jeff Einck explained that the co-op is landlocked and needs more space to store equipment. 

“We keep growing and our yard is getting full. We need places to put our equipment inside,” he said. “I think the town respects that.” 

He explained that they would access the building from the south through a large overhead door. The north side of the building would be designed to be aesthetically pleasing for the residential area that it faces.  City ordinance calls for a 30-foot setback on commercial property. The building that the co-op has planned would be large and would only allow for a 17.5 foot setback. 

Because Schuld is the owner of the property, he had to request the variance and that is how the public notice read. Those from the public who came to the meeting voiced their support of the endeavor. There were no negative comments. Roy and Martha Jongetjes said that they were okay with the project as long as the building stayed within the 17.5-foot setbacks. Jeff and Norm Van Dyke both expressed that they were in support of the building project. They also said that they would like their properties to remain zoned as limited industry. 

Kreun explained that the limited industry zoning was an error, and that the lots were in fact technically zoned residential and the map should be changed to reflect that. But that was a matter for a different meeting.  

After much discussion, the council voted to leave the lot zoned as limited industry and to allow the variance and approved the building plans, contingent on Schuld’s sale of the land to the Chandler Co-op. Einck indicated that the building project would probably not happen until next year. 

In other matters, the council set the preliminary levy and 2023 budget. This is an annual decision made each September in anticipation of the actual budget and levy being set in December. The preliminary levy will be reflected in property tax statements that are mailed before the end of the year, and sometimes cause alarm because the council often sets this preliminary amount higher than they need. That is because once they set a preliminary levy, they cannot raise it, but they can lower it. 

The budget committee suggested a 12 percent increase to the levy, with Mayor Kirk Bleyenburg saying that they thought they would be able to settle on a rate slightly lower than that.  Councilwoman Kathy Baker was not comfortable with that, and suggested that they set the preliminary higher so that they had more room to make changes to the budget. The council opted to set the preliminary levy at a 17 percent increase. The total levy request for 2023 would be $759,800 with that increase, up from $650,000 this current year.