Fred Heinonen
Scandia Area Reporter

On Tuesday, Sept. 4, the Scandia Planning Commission and City Council approved the division of an 83-acre estate after much controversy.

Bill Selb, Landmark Surveying, requested the city review the proposed division of the Sodergren property which lies on both sides of Parrish Road N. The property has one legal description with three tax parcels and no mention of Parrish Road.

The Sodergrens want to divide the land into a 24-acre parcel on the north, containing the 150 year-old homestead, and a 59-acre parcel abutting TH-97 on the south.

City Attorney Dave Hebert said that division would create four lots, subject to subdivision rules, because the road separates contiguous pieces of land. A major subdivision requires a plat of buildable parcels, soil tests, wetland delineation, grading, drainage and utility easements plans, landscape plans, and park fees.

City officials, sympathetic to rural conservation, worked to find the most reasonable solution. It was finally decided that by dividing the property into a parcel on each side of the road, two minor subdivisions could then be made to accomplish the Sodergren’s desired division.

CUP/Variance

The city council approved a conditional use permit amendment for Pat Reicherts to allow a second business in an existing building at the Big Marine Lake Store, 19261 Manning Trail N. The 1500 sq. ft. area upstairs can now be used for an apartment or a mortgage business office (requiring eight parking spaces).

The application for a variance to allow a second freestanding business sign at the Big Marine Lake Store was denied because: the property may be used in a reasonable manner for business purposes without a second monument sign; there are no unique circumstances of the property that causes need for a second monument sign; and regulations of the ordinance allow other ways of placing signage for the second business.

The present single 76 sq. ft. sign (which requires 76 feet of building front frontage) appeared very generous when the allotment was questioned during discussion. Reicherts would not attest to his building measurements.

Willowbrook Church

Pastor Brad Reis was present for further discussion about plans for building the Willowbrook Church.

Planning commission member Christine Maefsky presented many excerpts from the 1999 New Scandia Township Comprehensive Plan pertaining to the desire to focus development in and around the Village Center. “All new commercial development in the township will be guided to the Village Center.” “Strengthen the Village Center of Scandia as the focal point of community activity and location of most major future development ...”

Maefsky suggested adhering to the comprehensive plan, but it was decided to continue in the current direction. Rural character issues continue to dominate discussions. Willowbrook may apply for a conditional use permit next.

Other topics

City Engineer Tom Peterson calculated the final costs of the 2007 road improvement project to be $1,262,788.02.

A recent estimate of assessment to property owners is $1205 per unit for collector streets and $3615 per unit for non-collector streets. Property owners will have the option of making payments with 6.5 percent interest charged for up to 10 years.

By letter, Steve May requested an extension of the preliminary plat approval for Emerald Acres to the spring of 2008 because of unusual circumstances and financial burden of redoing the plat. The preliminary plat was approved on June 20, 2006, and a 180-day extension was approved on Dec. 19, 2006.

The extension expired in June because the final plat must be submitted within 180 days of preliminary plat approval. After discussion, the city decided to deny the requested extension.

The next city council meeting will be at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 18.

Top of Page