Greenwood begins process of turning planning to St. Louis County

FRIDAY, JUNE 24, 2016 — Chairman Rick Worringer opened the Greenwood Town Board’s June 24 special meeting by announcing his decision to step down from his role as chairman, and to pass the gavel to Supervisor Gene Baland, the vice-chairman of the township. “I believe the chairman should be directly involved with transferring planning and zoning to the county, and for personal reasons, I am unable to be that involved, so I am going to pass the gavel to Gene,” Worringer said. After it was confirmed that he was only resigning as chairman and not resigning as supervisor, Supervisor Carmen DeLuca moved to accept Worringer’s resignation. Supervisor Dr. John Bassing provided a second to the motion, which passed unanimously. Having accepted the chairman’s immediate resignation, the gavel was passed to Baland who now served as chairman.

Supervisor DeLuca moved to appoint Supervisor Bassing to the position of vice-chairman. “Is that alright, are you interested, John?” DeLuca asked. “Not particularly, but, I will do it,” Bassing replied. Supervisor Worringer provided a second to DeLuca’s motion to appoint Bassing as vice-chairman. The vote was conducted and received unanimous support, except for Bassing, who abstained from voting for himself.

Just as the board was concluding the business of selecting a new chairman and vice-chairman, Dr. Joann Bassing spoke from the audience, “Since this is a special meeting, you really shouldn’t take up business other than what’s stated on the agenda.” The board discussed this issue and ultimately concluded that Joann Bassing was correct and determined that it would go back to the beginning. Supervisor DeLuca rescinded his motion to appoint Supervisor Bassing as vice-chairman, and likewise, Worringer rescinded his second, eliminating the action taken on vice-chairman position.

Chairman Worringer again passed the gavel to Vice-chairman Gene Baland, and the board determined that it would take up selecting a new chairman and vice chairman at its next regular business meeting.

Acting Chairman Baland commenced with the agenda, stating, “Whomever developed the agenda should speak on the comprehensive plan.” Supervisor Bassing said, “I’ll take that,” and explained that he discussed the comprehensive plan with the township attorney, Michael Couri, and with the Minnesota Association of Township’s free attorney. Bassing provided the board with a copy of emails he received from the attorney, outlining the township’s options in handling the comprehensive plan. The options the attorney addressed included continuing to “pursue the comprehensive plan to completion.” Another option would be to delay adopting the comprehensive plan until some time following the transfer of planning and zoning authority to St. Louis County. The attorney also advised the town board to check with the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board (IRRRB) to see that the township can satisfy the contract obligations mandated when the township accepted an approximate $6,000 grant to create a new comprehensive plan.

“I move we have Bassing check with IRRRB on what we need to do to satisfy the comprehensive plan grant,” Supervisor DeLuca motioned. Supervisor Bassing provided support for the motion.

Planning Director Julia Maki informed the board that she had been in contact with Whitney Ridlon, IRRRB, and that the IRRRB is extending the township’s deadline to complete the comprehensive plan until the end of this year. Lee Peterson reported that he had worked on the comprehensive plan and that he would suggest the board, “set the plan aside, for now. The comprehensive plan has a lot more to do than just planning and zoning. A lot of the agencies, including the IRRRB and the DNR would like to see a comprehensive plan when considering grants,” Peterson said. Urging caution and recommending that the board check with its attorney, “We’ve gotten bad advice from the IRRRB before,” Mark Drobac said.

A unanimous vote approved having Supervisor Bassing check with the IRRRB, and the general consensus of each board member seemed to be that Greenwood would continue with the comprehensive plan at a later date, handling other issues necessary to turn planning and zoning over to the county, first.

Supervisor Bassing then directed the board of supervisors’ attention to a proposed ordinance, No. 2016-05, which the township’s attorney drafted. The original proposal called for an immediate moratorium on all conditional use permits (CUP), rezoning, variances and subdivisions for all zoning districts in the township.  Planning Director Maki said that she had been working with the Vermilion Club as it prepared its application for a CUP, to add a deck to the restaurant & bar’s facility. “I asked them to hold off (on the application) based on not knowing how fast this board would act,” Maki said. She explained that the Vermilion Club was ready with its application, and suggested the board limit new applications to an August 1 deadline, rather than implementing an immediate moratorium.

Steve Lenertz cautioned the board to be mindful of the 60 day rule, a statutory requirement which limits the time planning and zoning and the Board of adjustment has to complete their work on permit requests and to issue or deny a permit. The 60 day rule requires that if a decision is not rendered within the 60 days, the permit issues by default. The time limit may be extended by agreement of the applicant. Lenertz explained that Greenwood might be unable to stop a permit from being issued if the requirements of the 60 day rule were not met. “I think we can stop anything we want,” Joann Bassing said.

The suggestion of an August 1 deadline to receive any new CUP applications found a lukewarm reception from two members of the board. “I don’t think we can act fast enough,” Supervisor Bassing said. Supervisor DeLuca seemed to agree, saying, “He could have had his application in by now.” Planning Director Maki again explained that the Vermilion Club was ready to submit its application, however, she had asked them to wait to see how the board was going to proceed with the transfer of planning and zoning to the county. “I think we owe it to the VC (Vermilion Club) to give them time to submit their application. Even if it is only extending the deadline to July 1,” Maki said.

The township does not have authority over subdivisions, Planning Director Maki also informed the board, and she explained that the language in the proposed ordinance regarding subdivisions was not needed. Supervisor Bassing then made a motion to remove the reference to subdivisions from the proposed ordinance. Support for the motion was provided by Supervisor DeLuca. The motion passed with a unanimous vote.

Supervisor John Milbridge moved to change the “Immediate Temporary Prohibition,” language from the proposed ordinance and include stating that July 1 would be the last date which the township would accept applications for CUPs and re-zonings. The motion passed with unanimous support.

Once the desired exact language had been determined, Supervisor DeLuca moved to adopt Ordinance 2016-05. Supervisor Bassing seconded the motion, which passed with a unanimous vote.

Ordinance 2016-05 will place a moratorium on all applications for re-zonings, CUPs, and variances. The last day to apply for a conditional use permit is July 1 and the last day to apply for a variance is August 1.

The board of supervisors then moved to unanimously pass a resolution to, “turn over all planning and zoning responsibilities and enforcement obligations to St. Louis County.”

It was determined that Supervisor Bassing, Vice-chairman Gene Baland, Planning Director Maki and Township Clerk Sue Drobac would serve on a committee to work with St. Louis County to facilitate a smooth transition of planning and zoning control to the county. The board approved authorizing township attorney Michael Couri to negotiate with the county on behalf of the township. The board also authorized having Clerk Drobac transfer all documents and maps to the county.

Noting that he was just a messenger, Steve Lenertz again addressed the board to inform it that many residents had concerns about enforcement of already existing conditional use permit requirements. He used, as example, the outdoor music restrictions on Bay View Lodge. People are concerned that without enforcement, many restrictions will be ignored, Lenertz said. Supervisor Bassing explained that the township would be negotiating, through its attorney, enforcement obligations and responsibilities with St. Louis County Planning and Zoning and the board’s intent was to have all existing conditions adhered to. The meeting was then adjourned.

Greenwood Board of Adjustment

MONDAY, JUNE 27, 2016 — The Greenwood Board of Adjustment met on Monday evening and approved a garage variance for Rick and Mary Worringer. The intended garage is to be constructed at the couple’s Birch Point homestead.