At the August 15 New Scandia Township board meeting public forum, Fred Heinonen registered a complaint against New Scandia Township road maintenance employee, John Morrison, for cutting down a clump of wild yellow sunflowers/daisies that have been growing next to his mailbox for four or five years.

When confronted, Morrison claimed the flowers were in the traffic sight line of a neighborís driveway and insisted on asking the neighbor. Heinonen questioned how these wild flowers could be a problem when they were three feet off the road, 90 feet from the neighborís driveway, and in a 30 mph speed zone.

He said it would make more sense to ask the neighbor before cutting down the flowers. He also mentioned that several years ago before road improvements, he had a couple dozen wild rose plants along the roadway and now it is all dandelions and weeds.

Board Chairman Dennis Seefeldt said ìwe donít comment at public forums, but we will look at it.î

Neighborhood resident, Mike White, confirmed ìit was a nice clump of daisies.î

Variances

Kevin Lynch wants to build a two-story walkout garage on his lot on Goose Lake. He was encouraged to start the process for obtaining a variance and provide proof of a hardship before a variance could be granted.

Carol Kuschke wants to determine if her second lot in Oakridge Acres, which was recently declared unbuildable for tax purposes, can now be built upon if a variance is sought and approved. She was encouraged to develop a concept plan and bring it to the planning commission for review.

Jim Simpson wants to build an architecturally-pleasing garage that would resemble a historic red barn on his 15 acre parcel on 240th Street. It is not allowed (on less than 20 acres) by the township because it would not reasonably match the existing attractive old blue house.

Simpson plans to update the old house in the future and the board seemed to think the comprehensive development plan would soon be changed to include exemptions on smaller acreages, but right now Simpsonís best bet to comply would be to paint the old house a similar color that would match the new building.

Business advertising

Tony Murand inquired about what advertising signage is allowed for his business at the old creamery building.

Based on the 31 foot frontage of his building, he can display 31 square feet total using one sign on the building and/or one free standing sign on his property. Seefeldt and Supervisor Nancy Madden will visit the site next week to clarify the options.

Township staffing

Mary Hulleman plans to retire after eight years of working in the New Scandia Township office.

The public is invited to honor her services from 2-4 p.m., Thursday, Aug. 31.

Anne Hurlburt, the newly hired Scandia city administrator, will officially start her employment on Tuesday, Sept. 5. She was recently hired from a field of four finalists for the Scandia position.

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Forest Lake Times
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880 SW 15 St.
Forest Lake, MN 55025
651-464-4601
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