by Carrie Moritz, Gazette
The Garretson City Council met in regular session on Monday, June 13, and covered the issues of ash and maple trees, sidewalks meeting ADA regulations, and passed an ordinance for permit costs when a house is moved onto new property.
The first item on the agenda was natural gas prices, which have increased again to $1.33 per ccf. Normally, as the summer season starts, gas prices plummet. However, due to shortages in Europe and the willingness of producers to export, prices have climbed as supply is stretched.
The council then moved on to the sidewalk committee, which stated they had been in contact with Infrastructure Design regarding their plans. The plan for this summer was to install a sidewalk along Main heading north from Dows, but the hill in that area was going to make accessibility and compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act an issue. The council discussed having accessibility specifications placed into future contracts, but took no action.
Tree committee lead Colleen Collier then spoke to the council about ash trees, covering both removal and replacement in public areas. She pointed out that there were over 800 ash trees just in public areas in Garretson, which did not include private property.
While some progress has been made in the past five years with removal of trees in the parks, Collier was concerned that not enough has been done, and that educational opportunities for the community are lacking.
The emerald ash borer has not yet been discovered in Garretson, but was found in Crooks earlier this year.
State Forestry experts have said repeatedly that homeowners and communities only have up to five years before trees are completely dead and falling over once the borer infects an area.
"That does not mean you get all five years," Collier told the council.
She argued for implementing tree diversity rules into an ordinance, as there is another illness affecting maple trees that's making its way over from the western side of the United States.
"48% of the trees counted were ash, and 44% are maple," she said. She requested that a full tree committee be set up, along with funds set aside for tree replacement and community education.
Collier estimated that while 800 trees will need to be removed, only 200-250 trees will need to be replaced.
The council discussed potential avenues such as a list of approved arborists and informational packets for residents, but no further action was taken.
The council then tackled a request for a water and sewer study. The initial request had come at May's meeting from city supervisor Ryan Nussbaum, but Infrastructure Design Group submitted estimated costs and projections. The studies would analyze current systems and outline deficiencies, as well as project into the future what upcoming needs were on the horizon.
Infrastructure Design's Chad Hanisch noted that there were reimbursement opportunities available from the Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources for both studies, and Finance Officer Paetyn Dreckman said there was money in the budget to cover them.
However, the council was still skittish on approving the funding for the studies. Council member Dave Bonte suggested each of the members visit the city office over the next month to review the budget numbers with Dreckman.
After approving a permit request from Bev Howe for fireworks sales, Blue Dragon Academy board member Kris Frerk presented on the expansion plans for BDA and requested the use of city property for parking.
"We're adding an addition of 3900 square feet," said Frerk. "Our current building is 6100 square feet with 109 children, and we have over 40 kids on the waiting list."
The addition is expected to begin construction soon, and it will be one large room that will be utilized as a multi-functional space. It will allow for up to 60 more children to be cared for at the facility.
Unfortunately, the new addition will eat up the current parking lot, leaving little space for parents and employees to park. They were requesting a lease to be able to park on city land just to the east, a request that had been made previously but never formally approved. Frerk stated the BDA board would be the most comfortable if there was a formal resolution allowing for the parking lot to be placed there.
Council member Bill Hoskins agreed, pointing out that a simple lease agreement would help lay out responsibility and liability. He suggested it be renewable every five years, and to have a proposed document be available at the next monthly meeting. None of the council members had an issue with construction beginning before then.
The council then approved re-platting lots on land off 5th Street to be sold for individual storage buildings, and a liquor license for the 4th of July celebration that will be held on July 3, before hearing a request from councilor Tom Godbey to continue pursuing the making of a commercial to promote Garretson. He intended to have a formal proposal to submit by the July meeting.
Next on the agenda was the re-zoning request by Nachurs Alpine Solutions to change a plot of land to industrial from residential. Despite a solid rejection of the proposal by neighborhood homeowners at both this meeting and in May, the council approved the request by a vote of 4-2. (Further reading can be found in the June 16 issue of the Gazette.)
The final ordinance, which passed without discussion or complaint, was an adjustment of building permit rates for structures which are moved onto new property. This came about after it was discovered that the current ordinance did not differentiate between new builds or older structures being placed on new footings, which caused the permit fees to be overly high.
The amended ordinance now reads that a non-new construction/relocated dwelling will now cost $65/sq ft for inhabitable space, $20/sq ft for a garage, and will have a $50 base permit fee.
The council then adjourned, and will hold its next regular meeting on July 11 at 6:30 p.m. at the Legion Dugout.
