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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1976 [01] Jan 12 119 ST. JOSEPH JOINT PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING January 12, 1976 Members present: Township - Erv Studer, Al Thiesen, Bob Fulton, Al Torborg; City - Ron Klein, Al Maleska, Ben Kremer, Paul Brinkman; Council Representive- Hugo Weyrens. Al Torborg chaired the meeting. The secretary read the minutes of the December 8, 1975 meeting and they were approved as read. Al Torborg explained the purpose of the meeting to the 11-12 people present. Mrs. Gillitzer expressed concern about water quality along Minnesota Avenue. Most people have shallow wells and deep wells are not the answer, because of a rust and silt problem. Mrs. Klein shared Mrs. Gillitzer's concern and stated that some of the shallow wells have nitrate present to about 0.05 ppm. She asked how the people in that area might go about getting annexed. Ben Kremer said the residents must file a petition with the Municipal Commission and Hugo Weyrens added that we pres- ently have one such petition and in a few weeks we'll know a lot more about the procedure. Hugo also said that Bob Johnson (City Clerk) is keeping an eye open for possible funds to help with improvements. Mrs. Gillitzer then raised the question about a park or playground for the whole orderly annexation area. Many of the residents present supported her concern that a park area be set aside. One of the commission members found in the "ST. JOSEPH LAND USE PLAN" guidelines (p. 18) that about 10 acres of park should be set aside for every 1,000 new population. It was generally expressed by the commission member that if there are several developers in the area, that all should contribute some land to ONE centrally located park. This would all be worked out in detail as a part of the comprehensive plan for the area. A question was then asked regarding who pays the engineering fees and so forth for the comprehensive plan. A related question asked whether or not the city would be the "banker" until the area was completely filled up and all assess- ments paid. Bob Fulton stated that one of the reasons that the different zones were set up to be 1-5 years and 5-10 years was because the city felt they could get funds for 5 year periods. Several of the commission members expressed the feeling that the developers should take some of the responsibility in this area. However, neither question was really answered, because they both represent ser- ious problems for developing the area. A preliminary plot of the proposed use of pfleuger and Scherer's property in Zones I and II south of Minnesota Avenue was shown, and possible uses were dis- cussed. The residents in the area did not seem to be strongly opposed to multiple dwellings or apartment buildings as long as they had sufficient parking space and were properly located. They did appear to be opposed to locating businesses (commercial zones) in the area because it would increase the traffic of large trucks in the area and would greatly detract from the residential atmosphere of the area. The residents favored locating the commercial zone north of Minnesota Avenue. Members of the commission raised questions about the size of some of the lots (they are less than 10,000 square feet) and the width of some of the streets (particulary, it was felt that the north-south road in the c~nter of the plot should be the major street and its width should be 80 feet). Erv Studer sug- gested the bicycle lanes be included in the area. The members seemed to agree and suggested they lead towards the school and the business area. ~ 120 The final item for the evening was a report from Hugo Weyrens on the so called "logging operation". He said Lyman Hall owns eight acres north of the city in Zone I and would like to set up a mill to saw rough lumber. He would like to come into the city and have his land rezoned from R-3 to Industrial. He felt there are enough trees available in the area for at least fifteen years of business, and Hugo felt he was sincere and would not be a "fly by night" oper- ation. The next meeting is February 9, 1976 at 8:00 p.m. The meeting adjourned at 10:00 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Robert Fulton, Secretary