Alice Pickering
Linwood Area Reporter

A scaled-back plan for road work has been recommended by the Linwood Road and Bridge Committee.

Planned overlays on Thames Street south of Viking and Olympic Oaks have tentatively been postponed, according to Supervisor Phil Osterhus at the Linwood Town Board meeting on March 27.

Thames now needs re-grind and paving. Plans are to do overlays on Paradise Point, with some patching on Thames.

It is a better decision to keep up with smaller, less costly repairs, than to use most of the maintenance budget to fix a small section of one road, officials said. The committee must confirm the decision with Engineer Craig Jochum.

Plans are to use calcium chloride on Fontana Street to keep dust down. Resident Gary Wettshreck had applied the material to the section of the road in front of his property. The experiment has worked well, keeping the dust down and keeping the road surface in good condition after grading.

Craig Bachman, a member of the R & B committee asked that some record of the time spent on road maintenance on that particular road be kept. Comparisons can be made about the time spent grading before and after the material is applied, he said.

Bid awards

The board accepted the bid from Dan’s Landscaping and Snow Removal Inc. to complete street sweeping for 2007. The bid was $86.75 an hour. Bob Beckman, chair of road and bridge committee, said the company does a good job.

The board accepted the bid from Dennis Brown at $49 an hour for road grading. Brown’s bid was the lowest of the five submitted. Range of the bids was from $49 to $110 an hour.

Beckman, proposed allowing another contractor who grades for Oxford Township in Isanti County grade the section of Typo Creek Drive, south from the county border to Fawn Lake, “just to see the quality of grading.”

Attorney Gerald Randall advised against as the work is to be bid by one contractor.

The board approved the purchase of Class-5 gravel from Bjorklund Trucking. This was the better of the two bids at $10.95 a ton. Approval is for up to 6000 tons at the bid price. Beckman is pleased with the quality of gravel.

Fire truck update

The Linwood’s new tanker truck is in service, according to Fire Chief Joe Dolphy.

Some modifications were needed and these have been completed. Dolphy said the new unit should provide “service for many years to come.”

It is also the truck which will be used on mutual aid responses. It will get to a fire a lot faster than the old unit.

At Dolphy’s recommendation, supervisors authorized advertising to sell the old tanker. The pump on the truck will be removed and used as a portable unit. He estimated the truck might bring $1500 to $5000.

The board gave approval to the fire department to go ahead with plans to change the departmental by-laws to policies and procedures. Officials have been discussing this with Randall. This makes it easier to make changes when they are needed, without lengthy procedures.

The wage and compensation policy for fire fighters is included in this action. Support was unanimous.

Dolphy reported 11 emergency responses for February.Two were for fires and nine were medical calls.

Other topics

The board approved an application for a conforming land division for resident Dean Sampson. Approval was unanimous, 5-0. Both parcels meet road frontage requirements for metes and bounds division.

Steve Strandlund, a member of the planning and zoning commission, said the proposed change in accessory building ordinance was to simplify the process for residents. There had been question about whether the materials used in construction had to be exactly the same as those used for the residence.

Strandlund told the board that “consistent with” does not mean exactly the same, but compatible in materials, color, and style with buildings already on the site. In the past, a resident wanting to build an accessory building between the house and the road had to apply for a variance. The change means that as long as the building is the same style as the house then a variance application is no longer required.

However, if the style of the building is different or construction materials are different, a variance is still required. Before, any time a variance application was made, neighbors were notified of the public hearing.

With the change in the ordinance, neighbors will not necessarily have any input about the affect a building will have on the view from their home.

Supervisor Howard Holm said the ordinance change is similar to those in Columbus, Wyoming Township and Oak Grove. Board approved the ordinance change 5-0.

Deb Mackowick and Stephanie Lucas were reappointed as members of P & Z. Their terms extend through 2010. The board also approved the appointment of Jenny Sheridan as a permanent member of P & Z, and Tom Searing as an alternate member.

There was some discussion about the need for recommendations from the P & Z. Joe Dolphy cautioned that recommendations for membership on the commission should not come from the planning commission itself.

The commission could become biased in one direction, if the commission consistently recommends its membership, he said. It is better for interested residents to submit letters of interest, outlining reasons and qualifications for the appointment, he said.

The board granted a one-year extension to a sketch plan presented by Max Anderson. Anderson made the request because he is not quite ready to go ahead with development of his property on Icarus Street. Approval was unanimous.

In his report for the Cemetery Committee, Holm said the information about the township cemetery is being compiled, checked and efforts have begun to enter it all into one data base. The committee is trying to determine a complete inventory of space in the lot.

There is not one single complete map and the job is to put together information from several sources. Updates will be reported to the board.

The township is sponsoring a Pet Clinic, 9-11 a.m., Saturday, April 14. The clinic will be in the township garage (former fire hall). Fees are nominal and residents can purchase dog licenses.

The board reminded residents of the Linwood Spring Recycle Day. Site is the north end of the township’s Senior Center from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., Saturday, April 28.

Other business

In other business, the board:

•Tabled a decision about signing Climate Protection Agreement-reduce Global warming pollution resolution until the next regular meeting.

•Approved up to $700 for annual OSHA Training for employees Ray Broadbent and Mike Budde.

•Approved an increase in the amount paid for delivery of township newsletters from $300 to $350 plus mileage. There has been no increase in delivery rate since the late 1990s.

•Authorized the use of up to $1000 in recycling funds for a presentation about environmental issues at Linwood Fun Day.

•Tabled a decision about a liquor license for Stacy Lions until the next board meeting.

•Learned of complaints filed about the number of vehicles on the land owned by resident Sal Carlone.

•Learned there have been complaints about a potentially dangerous dog on 240th Ave.

•Learned the Forest Lake Masons will host a french toast breakfast as part of the Linwood Fun Day.

•Placed a quote list from James Dolphy’s Tree Removal Service on file.

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