Joe Drennan
Staff Writer

Ziegler, Inc. hopes to become the next big business to move to Columbus Townshipís freeway corridor and they were in front of the Columbus Town Board last Wednesday night looking for site plan and preliminary plat approval.

Plans for Zieglerís Columbus location include a 65,000 square foot facility divided into three areas. One area would be a vehicle shop on one side of the building, warehouse on the other side, and in the middle of the building there would be a general office area.

Ziegler specializes in the sale, rental and repair of Caterpillar machinery.

There are still some minor issues to be resolved, but the Town Board approved both the site plan and preliminary plat for Ziegler 5-0.

Ziegler hopes to start construction as soon as possible for a 2007 opening date.

WAC charges

The town board on Feb. 8 reviewed ordinance language for both Sewer Availability Charge and Water Availability Charges.

The issue the town board is having is the length of time residents should have to hook up to either service once itís available to them, and how much that hookup charge should be.

For sewer service the town board is comfortable with a time limit around five years for residents to hook up to the sewer at a fee of $300 per SAC unit if the resident hooks up right away.

Residents have five years to hook up to the sewer once itís available, but if they wait to hook up theyíll pay an additional $1000.

The issue bothering the supervisors, however, is the WAC charge and the length residents have to hook up.

It was proposed that residents have between five and seven years to hook up after the service was made available with a WAC of $1100 per Equivalent Residential Unit.

ìBy doing this weíre forcing our citizens to pay,î Supervisor Glenn Miles said. ìThat land is going to be going up (in value) and their taxes will go up.î

While the other board members understood what Miles was saying, not all sympathized with his argument.

ìI think the five years is a good thing for our citizens,î Supervisor Mark Walsh said. ìThey can see ahead and know how long they have until they have to hook up.î

It was also noted that residents could come back to the board at the end of the five years and ask for a variance extension if their well is still working fine.

ìThe one thing we can do is make the time limit longer, we canít make it shorter,î Supervisor John Wallner said.

ìIím hesitant to do this against what other communities and our lawyers are saying. I donít think theyíre giving us these numbers to upset anybody.î

After all the discussion, the board motioned to have the staff revise the wording of the ordinance to not include the WAC as they discuss the issue further.

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Forest Lake Times
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Forest Lake, MN 55025
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