City Council Minutes 08-07-1985 SpecialMINUTES
SPECIAL MEETING - MONTICELLO CITY COUNCIL
August i, 1985 - 7:00 P.M.
A special joint meeting of the Monticello City Council and Monticello
Township Board officials was duly called to order by the Mayor at
7:00 P.M.
Members Present: Mayor Arve Grimsmo, Council Members Fran Fair,
Bill Fair, Dan Blonigen, and Jack Maxwell. Also present were
members of the Monticello Township Board consisting of Chairman
Franklin Denn, Stuart Hoglund, Jerry Stokes and Charles
Holthaus. In addition, County Zoning Administrator Tom
Salkowski and County Board Member LeRoy Engstrom were in
attendance. Also present were City Administrator, Tom Eidem and
Finance Director, Rick Wolfsteller and Building Inspector, Gary
Anderson.
The purpose of this special joint meeting was to discuss with the
Monticello Township Board Members the status of the orderly
annexation area surrounding the City of Monticello and the
possibility of conducting a study by the consulting city planner
and city engineer regarding whether any or all of the OAA area
should be considered for annexation by the City of Monticello.
Originally, discussion by the City Council had previously
taken place regarding possible annexation of a portion of the
orderly annexation area located near the Monti Club hill due to
possible expansion of the City's water system to include a water
tower near the Monti Club. The City Administrator, Eidem, briefly
gave a background history concerning the OAA area and possible
need by the City to annex a portion or all of the OAA area
because of the anticipated water tower location. Mr. Eidem
noted that the City's consulting planner and City's consulting
engineering firm have presented a proposal to the City Council
for a study of the OAA area as to whether the criteria would be
met for the area to be considered urban in nature and suitable
for annexation in the City limits. Mr. Eidem noted that the
purpose of the meeting was to receive input by township board
members regarding the study.
Mr. Tom Salkowski, County Zoning Administrator, presented a map
of the Orderly Annexation Area and noted that in reviewing the
building permits issued for residential developments within the
last 32 years, 99 home permits and 3 mobil home permits were
issued for the entire township with 50 of these residential
permits and 1 mobile home permit being located in the OAA area.
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Special Council Minutes - August 7, 1985
Approximately 50% of the residential development is occurring in
the OAA area of the township. Mr. Salkowski noted that since the
inception of the Orderly Annexation Area approximately 10 years
ago, only one new residential subdivision (Tyler East) has been
approved in the OAA area with the remainder of the residential
development primarily taking place in previously platted sub-
divisions.
General concerns expressed by Council Member Blonigen and Council
Member Fran Fair were in regard to the City's past and future
input into the development that will occur in the OAA area next
to the City limits. These concerns were generally related to
City input for approval of subdivision plats as to lot sizes, etc.
in order to make the lots more suitable for City utilities if and
when they should ever become part of the City limits. In the past,
it appears that all of these divisions have quite large lots which
will make them very hard to serve with sewer and water utilities, etc.
Township Chairman Denn and Zoning Administrator Salkowski indicated
that the City's input in future residential subdivisions would not
be a problem and that the County and Township officials would look
favorable upon requiring subdivisions to have either smaller lots
or plat the parcels showing larger lots with an overlay indicating
how the property can be subdivided in the future for addition
building lots when and if it should become part of the City.
Township Board Member Stuart Hoglund questioned who would end up
paying for the cost of sewer and water extensions to serve the
far away plats within the OAA area if the parcels were annexed into
the City as he felt the cost would be prohibitive. It was
noted by Mayor Grimsmo that even if part of the OAA area were
annexed into the City, it wouldn't automatically mean that sewer
and water would be extended unless petitioned for by the property
owners.
The Township Chairman Denn noted that in his opinion the com-
prehensive plan of the OAA area needed to be looked at for changes
as most of the property is currently zoned residential and he felt
that during the last 10 years major residential developments have
not occurred and the property should possibly be rezoned to
agricultural. By designating the areas closer to the City as
residential, and leaving the areas further away from the City as
agricultural, the Township, County and OAA Board would have more author-
ity to direct development near to the City limits where it
belongs.
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Special Council Minutes - August 7, 1985
City Administrator Eidem suggested that possibly the comprehensive
plan should be reviewed in light of Mr. Denn's comments and that
maybe residential areas next to the City limits in the OAA area
should be immediately annexed into the City to provide for
residential development and the remaining agricultural zoning
areas could remain in the township with the OAA actually being
desolved at this time. The OAA Board in this case would no longer
be needed as both parties would have agreed to what areas should
remain agricultural and what areas should be developed as
residential.
Although the discussion basically centered on how the City and
Township could cooperate and regulate future subdivision plats
within the OAA area, the basic reason for the joint meeting was
to not only discuss planning input in the OAA, but to also
discuss whether the City should continue to pursue annexation
of a part or all of the OAA area. City Administrator Eidem
noted that land use planning is essential but other concerns
of the City is the population growth in the OAA area and what
strain this growth will be putting on City services and
resulting expenses of the City. Mr. Eidem noted that in his
opinion when the OAA Area and Township population, in general,
starts to exceed the population of the City, the
services are being strained and result in more expense for the
City for -maintenance of its basic utilities such as streets and
public services such as libraries, fire protection, city parks,
etc. Mr. Eidem recommended that if the study is completed by
the city planner and city engineer, the study should show
whether or not the OAA area is growing rapidly enough to be
considered urban which at that point should be possibly annexed
into the City. If the population growth is occurring in the
OAA area and a study shows that the population of the township
is causing increasing burdens for the City of Monticello
residences, possibly annexation of the area into the City should
be considered.
Although the Council Members present were not ready to make a
decision in pursuing the annexation study, the item was directed
to be placed on a future council agenda for additional con-
sideration. The joint meeting was adjourned.
Rick Wolfstelle
Assistant Administrator
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