Planning Commission / Board of Adjustment - Regular Meeting

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Okay. Thank you. Okay. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for attending the Monday, February 23rd, Planning Commission Board of Adjustment hearing. Please bear with me while I read the meeting procedures. All persons in attendance at the planning commission board of adjustment PCBOA meetings are expected to comply with the following meeting procedure. Thank you in advance for helping make this a manageable meeting. Copies of agenda item materials are available for public viewing on the table located at the back of the meeting room. These materials are not to leave the table so that others in attendance may also view them. Please turn your phones to vibrate/off during the meeting and conduct any sidebar conversations outside of the meeting room. Interruption or other interference with the orderly conduct of the PCBOA meeting will not be allowed. Defamatory or abusive remarks are always out of order. Disruptive persons will be removed from the meeting. The chair may terminate a speaker's privilege of address if, after being called to order, the speaker persists in improper conducts or remarks. Written material concerning agenda items must be submitted to the environmental services department by 3:30 p.m. on the Wednesday immediately prior to the meeting date. Written materials will not be accepted after this deadline or at the meeting because the planning commission board of adjustment board of adjustment will not have sufficient time to review them prior to the meeting. Such material must state the agenda item for which it is being submitted and the name and address of the submitting party. Planning commission business is conducted first followed by the board of adjustment business. The chair will call the meeting to order and explain the meeting procedure. The chair will read each agenda item into the record and ask the applicants to come forward to the presenter's table, state his her, or their names and address for the record, and explain his, her, or their request. The planning commission board of adjustment will then discuss the agenda item with the applicant. The chair will then ask for public comment on the agenda item. To facilitate an orderly,

efficient meeting, there is a three minute speaking time limit per speaker per agenda item unless the chair allows a speaker additional time. The chair may terminate the speaker's privilege of address if after being called to order, the speaker persists an improper conduct or remarks. When the chair recognizes a speaker, he or she may approach the audience podium and microphone, state his or her full name and address for the record, and write such on the speaker lock, and then share his or her comments. The audience podium microphone must be used by the recognized speaker because the meeting is recorded. A member of the public may not donate his or her speaking time to another speaker. A speaker should state his or her comments and address the issue, not the applicants. All comments are to be directed towards the PCBOA. Please do not repeat comments already made by previous speakers. The chair reserves the right to ask a group with similar comments to appoint a spokesperson. If written comments have been submitted to the PCBOA, please do not read them aloud during the meeting as they are already part of the record and copies thereof have been given to the PCBOA. After everyone wanting to speak on an agenda item has done so, the chair will close the public comment period on the agenda item and no further public comment will be taken after this point. The chair will give the applicant an opportunity to address issues raised during public comment. The PCBOA will then continue its discussion on the agenda item and the chair will entertain a motion on it. The PCBOA may make a motion to pass, deny, or table the item. Once a motion is made or seconded, the PCBOA will develop findings of facts for conditional use permit and variance applications and then vote on the motion. Once a vote is taken on the agenda item, the PCBOA will move on to the next agenda item. Meetings commence at 6 PM and will continue until all agenda items have been heard or until 10 p.m. No new agenda items shall be considered after 9:45 p.m. The PCBOA may

at its discretion continue an item that is on the floor at 10 p.m. Any remaining agenda items shall be continued to another date or time, preferably the immediately following Tuesday at 6 p.m. And no further public comments will be provided or public notice will be provided for such a meeting continuation. The PCBOA through the chair may modify these procedures prior to a meeting or an agenda item. Okay. Thank you very much. First, we're going to go right into the planning commission and the approval of the January 26, 2026 meeting minutes. Does anybody have everyone had a chance to review the minutes? Yes. Anybody have any questions, comments? No.

Okay. Would anybody care to make a motion? Make a This is Tim. I'll make a motion to approve the January 26 Planning Commission minutes. Okay. I have a motion by Tim to approve the minutes as presented. Do I have a second? Ken, I'll second. Okay. And a second by Ken. Ken, how do you vote? Ken, I. Timothy, how do you vote? This is Timothy. I vote I. Okay. Mike, how do you vote?

Mike, I vote I. And this is Veronica. I vote I. The planning commission minutes have been approved. Okay, moving on. There's no old business, so we'll go right into the board of adjustment. And we have again the approval of the January 26, 2026 meeting minutes. Anybody have any comments, questions, concerns, or edits?

No. Okay. Okay. Anyone care to make a motion? This is Ken. I'll make a motion that we approve the minutes of the January 26th uh 20126 um board of adjustment minutes. Okay. Thank you, Ken. We have a motion by Ken to approve the January 26 meeting minutes. Do I have a second? This is Mike. I'll second that. Okay. Thank you, Mike. Okay. And a second by Mike. So, Ken, how do you vote? I. Timothy, how do you vote? This is Timothy, I vote I. Mike, how do you vote?

Mike, I vote I. And this is Veronica. The meeting minutes have been approved. Vote I. Okay. The first item on the agenda is going to be variance application 1-v26 by Nick Bertram. Lot 13 and part of lot 12, Luc Beach, section 15, township 141, range 34, Lake Emma Township on Lower Bottle Lake, a recreational development lake, parcel 16.51.0110 011 0 0. The applicant is requesting a variance to amend condition 4 on variance 2-4B-24 to allow a lakeside deck to be placed on a non-conforming dwelling located in the shore impact zone.

Okay. Thank you. You could please state your name and address for the record. Okay. My name is Nick Bertram. Uh do you want the address for where this is taking place or my home address? Your personal address would be great, please. 261 Stickney Lane, Great Ben, Kansas. Okay. Okay. Thank you, sir. And you can go ahead and please give us a description of your request.

Well, we've got a variance or we had a variance out there to do some work at uh on the house and now we're asking for permission to put a deck on the leg side of the house. the the original variance says no deck on and so we were asking for an amendment to that. Okay. Thank you, sir. And so your reason for the amendment is because you're removing the old concrete. Is that correct? Not the part of the old concrete. Some of it's going to stay. Mhm.

I think on the drawings there was uh there were some pictures of the part that stays and a part that that we're going to take out. And then there's an old uh platform deck out by the lake that we're planning on removing. Okay. You're talking about the 10 by 36 wooden platform that's on at the 18. Yeah. Right there in the picture off to the would be my left. Okay. Okay. Do we have any questions or comments from the board? The um the part the part of the concrete platform that's there now.

Mhm. your your your request is for a deck, but isn't isn't our definition would really be a platform if it's at ground level because you're just you're replacing that concrete that's there and you're building a wood platform at ground level. Yeah. If if I don't know if you guys can see the picture that I can see. Yeah. So, you see the concrete to the left where where the windows low and there's a door that stays. There's a set of steps there that's kind of disintegrated and some concrete that's leaning on up towards the Yeah,

that part of the house. That's where we'd like to build the platform or I call it a deck, but you call it whatever. I guess it's not going to have what I proposed was no railing because it doesn't have to be built much off the ground at all because we don't you can see on the picture on the far right side there's a patio door there right close to the ground and that's where the top of the deck platform is going to be 6 in or something like that below that door.

Yeah. And it'll run out to where the steps are now. And then there'll be a set of steps down to the other thing. Yeah. And and our we'd like to leave that concrete that's in there. That's fine on the bottom. In fact, we don't even have to remove the other cuz that we we can put the uh I believe we can put the wood or whatever on on top of that other. And then where the steps are, there'll be a set of wooden steps kind of like the draw. Well, not kind of like the drawing that that we uh submitted. So So you your plan building the wood platform on top of the deck, the concrete that's there, not to take the concrete out. Well, if it makes a difference to you guys, we can take it out or leave it.

The only difference it makes is we want to know what you're going to do. So and what you say you're going to do is we expect you to do. So imagine that. Do you think do we need to take that out or not? You can go ahead and come and join him at the table if you would please. Well, and before you get started, you have to do your name and address, please. Okay. Okay. My name is John Bertram. Uh 1674 State Highway 210 Burndale, Minnesota.

Thank you, sir. Um, the only problem is I'm if we put wood there, I'm probably going to have to knock a hole in that cement somewhere because, you know, I need to get down to the 4ft footings mark. Otherwise, that's going to move different than the house, which, you know, I I want to minimize that as much as possible. That's that's the issue. But I'd be real careful about moving that cement all the way out of there because when we dug up the other to put on the addition there, uh, they had that cement tied into footings down there and it got to be a mess trying to break that out. So, it it would be a job to break that all out, I think. But you know, otherwise I'd just try to break some holes in there where I need to put my supports on.

Most of it would remain and you just build a wood deck over it. Yep. Or platform. Okay. Yep. So this is Veronica speaking during lot views. Some of that concrete as you just mentioned was removed. So was it in like three sections then? Just kind of looking at this picture. Not the one down low but up higher. Yeah, there's How much of it did you remove? How much how much has been removed? Correct. That would be probably from I would say from the middle of that patio door on the upper down to about the start of the first window. Okay.

Up there that was removed because originally that was an old garage and I had to put frost footings under all that. So that got broken up.

Okay. Appreciate that. Thank you. Okay, before we go any further, I'm going to go ahead for the record open public comment. And seeing no public comment, I'll close public comment. Um, one other thing we noticed during the lot view, we discussed um the downspouts and how they were directing water directly towards the lake. Have you considered like how you would redirect that when you're doing the deck? We talked about it a little bit. I'd need to talk to maybe some of the rain gutter people and see if they have different ideas. You know, you could put some kind of

filtration thing on the back of that or we could run it, but we're not going to gain much by running it further this way to the cement down there. Neither. We We'd need to find something better than that. I think I'm not exactly sure what we could do with that. Have you considered maybe some catch basins or any type of drain tile system prior to be doing the platform? We we could we could we were going to talk to the to the people that installed the rain gutter and see if they had some good ideas. Um but yeah, if that's what would needed to be done and I I I understand what you're trying to do. Yeah. Because there'll be some runoff from the right those two valleys.

Huh. Yeah. from those two valleys right there that just go right towards the lake at this time. So that would just be a possible condition I would suggest for the board members that we add besides the one that's uh about removing that 7 by or 10 by 36.5. Are you can I ask are you more concerned about the erosion of that or are you more concerned about you know because basically your water coming off of there is going to be clean.

So yeah, the storm water runoff is what I'm concerned with since you're in the shore impact zone 46 feet from the water's edge. It's going right into the lake. would love to divert it as much away from the lake as possible by like some sort of basin or um some type of catch or drain tile. Okay, that would be my preference. Yep. The um this is Tim. I was just going to say there you could also go laterally in if you wanted to put in a pipe and go off to the side. Yeah. Yep. like a French drain and Okay.

Um, yeah, I see it's I think it's a good good proposal to get that old deck 18 ft away from the water. You'll be removing that. So, yeah, I think that's a good trade. This is Veronica. I agree. Any other questions?

Yeah, this is Mike. Uh, the old stairway there is all deteriorated and fallen apart. You're going to rip that out? Yeah, I broke most of that out already because it was just it was just crumbling out of there. And so I tore that out because I painted those blocks there on the bottom there. And and I I believe I have enough out of there so I could put the wood steps in. It would be closed, but I think I have most of that out of there already for that. Your new drawing shows the stairway over quite a ways that you'd have to take quite a bit out. But yeah, I think but then that'll just be exposed earth underneath that deck then. And

yeah, underneath there. Yeah. Not afraid of it washing out or anything or I'm not real concerned about that because well, most of that roof is is going to run through that the rain gutter. So, I'm not and I think if you this spring if I landscape that I can seed that down and maybe put some peock or something in there to make sure that doesn't happen. And then you are going to probably have to put rails on that stairwell. I should have to. I think I I measured that out. I think I'm less than 30 in. So, I should be okay. But the state code says four risers. Do you need railings? Oh, on the stairs. Yeah.

Okay. But I think I could put those up against the house if I wanted to. Okay. But you are going to have some fall off with the stair that's going to be close to 30 in. No. Okay. Any other comments or questions? Y the I just for the record uh the um they are proposing and it probably should be a condition uh that they're going to remove that old wooden deck that's 18 ft from the lake as part of the part of a condition.

Yes, absolutely. I agree. Yes. Just for supporting statements, the proposed wooden platform complies with the section 703 deck and platform additions in the shoreline management ordinance and they are offering to remove 365 square ft of that wooden deck at the 18 ft ordinary high watermark setback. So that's definitely in harmony with um approving this. Okay. So then I have two conditions. The first condition would be that um the existing detached 10x 36.5 wooden platform located at the 18 foot ordinary high watermark setback is to be removed before the land use permit for that 7x36 proposed new deck on the house is issued. And the second one for myself would be that downspouts um be directed directing the storm water away from the lake by either using um catch basins drain tile systems or a French drain sort of thing. So,

do you do you want us to when we get that nailed down bring it to Eric or to somebody here or or do you need to take a look at it or That's something that you would definitely want to bring in when you go to get your uh permit, you know, that you could show that that condition has been met. That way, your permit can be issued soon. Sure. Okay. Anybody prepared for a motion or any other comments? No more comments. You might as well go make the motion.

Okay. Then this is Veronica. I make the motion that we approve the application um as per site plan to by amending the condition number four on 2-B-24 allowing the 7x36 wooden platform with the first condition that the existing detached 10x 36.5 wooden platform located at the 18 foot ordinary high watermark setback is removed before land use permit for that 7 by 36 proposed new deck on the house is issued. And the second condition would be that downspouts be directed away from the lake and into catch basins or a drain tile system or French drain system to reduce the storm water management into the lake. And I will adopt the staff's findings of facts. I'll second the motion.

Okay. M motion made by myself with the two conditions. Ken seconded the motion. And we adopted the staff's findings of facts. Timothy, how do you vote? This is Timothy. I vote I. Ken, how do you vote? This is Ken, I vote I. Mike, how do you vote? Mike, I vote I. And this is Veronica. I vote I. Your variance has been approved. You'll be receiving a decision letter from environmental services with the conditions and everything and giving you direction on what to do next. All right. Well, thank you. Thanks for your time and consideration on this. Appreciate it. Thank you.

Okay. Next item on the agenda, variance application 2-B-26 by Michael and Samantha Fiser, part of the northwest quarter of the northwest quarter, section 8, township 144, range 32, Hart Lake Township, parcel 10.08.00120. Applicants are requesting a variance from section 4 of the subdivision ordinance to subdivide a property within 5 years of a prior administrative subdivision. Okay. Hi. If you could please uh state your name and address for the record. Samantha Fischer. Uh my address is 49065 Teal Wing Drive. Thank you. And go ahead and proceed with your variance request.

Um kind of like you said, we're requesting to take our 15 acres and split it up into three lots and hopefully sell them off individually. So Okay. Okay. Perfect. Okay. For the record, I'll go ahead and read. Also, the applicant requests relief from the 5-year waiting period between the administrative subdivisions. This tract was created by administrative subdivision that was approved on October 1st, 2021. And then in 2024, the remainder tract of this 2021 subdivision was granted a variance to be further subdivided within the 5-year waiting period. Now, you want to divide that 15 acre tract into three 5acre tracks. They all front County Road 100 and the tract occupies a quarter quarter section. So the proposed subdivision would result in three tracks fronting County Road 100 in that quarter mile stretch. So sounds good. I'm going to go ahead and open for public comment. And seeing none, I'll close public comment. Any com? This is Ken. Just just for the record, these three proposed parcels uh meet size, septic system, uh lake frontage, all the requirements uh by our shoreline management ordinance. And the only issue is they're about 6 months short of the five-year time frame in which they can uh uh do this um by the process they're asking for. Thank you, Ken. I agree. It's absolutely right. Other option is the minor subdivision, which again requires public hearing going for to the planning commission, which just takes a little bit longer. So, I think this seems um sufficient. I don't see any issues since

they meet all of the requirements other than that six-month time frame. Anybody else have any questions, comments? Oh, no. Let's see. No. Okay. Okay. Does anybody care to uh make a motion? Well, I can do it. I guess I make a motion that we accept uh variance application 2-V226 uh and adopt the SC findings of facts presented by the staff. There's a mic. I'll second that.

Okay, we have a motion by Ken to approve the application as presented per site plan. A second by Mike and they adopted the staff's findings. Timothy, how do you vote? This is Timothy. I vote I. Ken, how do you vote? This is Ken, I vote I. Mike, how do you vote? Mike, I vote I. And this is Veronica. I vote I. Your application has been approved. You'll receive a letter from Environmental Services on the next steps. Okay. Thank you.

Thank you. Okay, next item on the agenda is miscellaneous. Let's see. Two things. One would be as far as the vacancy in uh Commissioner Christensen's uh district. Last I heard, she was planning to put out a advertisement uh for people that would have interest in serving to consider whatever she receives for applications. I haven't heard anything further. That was a few weeks ago. So, I know Ken indicated he won't be here at the March meeting. So, if anyone else has the inability to be at the hearing, I need to know now so we can uh plan accordingly because we wouldn't have a quorum.

I'll be here. Yep. I'll be here. Yeah. Okay. So, uh that leads to the agenda for March. It looks like we'll have four variance applications for sure, possibly five. So reasonable size meeting for for March and that's all that I have other than uh oh I guess there is one planning commission item for March and that is a uh ordinance amendment application proposing that controlled access lots be allowed again on natural environment lakes. So okay

what was could you repeat that again? Several years ago, we had controlled access lots allowed as a conditional use and we remove that use completely from the ordinance. And so there's a property that has a lot that was created as an access lot illegally by the developer and now that came to the owner's attention decades later. And so they aren't able to use it as it was uh sold to them. And so now they're asking for that access lot to be again an allowed conditional use on natural environment lakes so they can then hopefully go through that process.

That was a that was a county ordinance that was an estatemandated rule. It's optional if counties can uh incorporate that or exclude it. And for a long time it was a part of our ordinance but it um was removed because it was we were having issues with the access lots that were out there. So I I do understand you're proposing putting it back into the ordinance. I'm not we have a landowner application that will be on the March agenda for that. Okay. Those were controlled access lots or disasters.

Okay. Well, it's too bad you're going to be gone. I know. All right. Anything else then? Anybody else? But you have my opinion. Okay. All right. Anybody care to make a motion to adjurnn? This is Tim. I'll make a motion to adjurnn. Okay. Motion to adjurnn by Tim. Anybody have a second? This is Mike. I'll second. Okay. Second by Mike. Timothy, how do you vote? Miss Timothy, I vote I. Ken, how do you vote? I vote I. Mike, how do you vote? Mike, I vote I. Veronica, I vote I. Meeting adjourned. So,

are we ever going to get little name plates like this or do I just use