Call to order:
The regular Randolph City Council meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. by Mayor Marie Jacob.
Roll Call:
Present:
Mayor Marie Jacob
Council Members Jacob Friedrich, Todd D Carlock, Tony Price, and new member, Randy Ferguson
Treasurer Sandy Nicolai and Clerk Mary Haro
Also, in attendance was Bolton & Menk engineer, Matt Blazer and planner, Nathan Fuerst and legal counsel, Greta Bjerkness of LeVander, Gillen & Miller.
Swearing in New Officers:
Mayor, Marie Jacob, Councilmembers, Jake Friedrich, Tony Price and Randy Ferguson and Treasurer Sandy Nicolai all took the oath of office.
We want to thank Todd Carlock for his service on the council.
Approval of Agenda:
Mayor Jacob would like to scratch the Scope of Work for Bryce Pressnall from the agenda. Motion to approve the agenda with the deletion was made by Friedrich, seconded by Price. All voting in favor, none opposed, motion passed 5:0.
Public Comments:
None
Prior Meeting Minutes
A motion to approve the December 11, 2024, regular council meeting minutes was made by Friedrich, seconded by Price. All voting in favor, none opposed, motion passed 5:0.
Treasurer's Report and Payment of Bills:
Tony and Sandy are still working on the spreadsheet and hope to have that done soon. The goal is the understand where our budget is at and be able to see what we have spent to date.
Motion to approve the payment of bills was made by Jacob and seconded by Friedrich. All voting in favor, none opposed, motion passed 5:0.
Old Business
Northern Salt Site Development
Northern Salt wants to develop the site off of Dickman. The site is approximately 30 acres in size. There are two different property owners (1) Dave Fellon of Progressive Rail owns the northern portion and (2) Northern Salt owns the southern portion (the “Applicants”). They are working together on this proposal for the property. The property is zoned as industrial. They have submitted a grading permit in October 2024 to begin moving dirt on the property. Approval of the grading permit does not grant them permission to build or does it establish their land use on the property.
Bolton & Menk asked what direction the council wants to take.
In November of 2024 the Applicants submitted additional plans which were reviewed by Bolton & Menk and they provided some comments regarding zoning. The Applicants came back in December 2024 regarding storage on the property and what the use of the property was. They need a grading permit before they begin doing any work; however, before we issue the permit we should agree that their land use is acceptable. When they submitted the grading permit, Bolton & Menk had not yet seen any plans. It was noted that the plans had changes several times; however, they have to meet the cities land use zoning. They did get a permit from Dakota County for the driveway which is close to the resident who resides in the area which we think should move further south. They are proposing a 60,000 sq. ft. building on the northern half of the property for storage to transload nonhazardous concrete construction materials. They also proposed a work area on 5 acres to offload to and from the rail on the southern part as a temporary staging loading interim which will be exclusively for the process of moving products from the rail cars to trucks. Storage will be limited as necessary to coordinate the loading and delivery of the product. This is a proposed temporary use of the property. Since a large portion of the property is for outdoor storage that is more of a primary use. It seems that more parking spaces are needed than what is shown on the plans. With the size of the outdoor storage they are planning, we could require some type of screening or fencing to separate use from the roadways.
The land use proposed and our code for permitted uses in the industrial district does not include their type of use. We can approve it and put some conditions on it.
If we wanted to move forward we could move to do a zoning text amendment to amend the industrial zoning district to allow as a conditional use and then we could put on conditions. We would need a phasing plan to understand the transloading project going to and from the train tracks and we could issue an interim short term project but we have to put a time frame on it but it needs to be in conformance with our zoning code and regulations. Having train tracks and storage as a principal use is not in conformance with our regulation. Through conditions of approval, the city has the ability to do its best to have the developer avoid nuisance on the property. We can enforce setbacks that may apply to railroad tracks. We can enforce conditions and say it has to be set back how many feet from the property lines if we grant a conditional use permit or interim use permit. We could set reasonable conditions such as train tracks not so close to a residents property.
It seems as if their principal use is outdoor storage and that does not meet our zoning requirements. They would have to revise their grading plans to fit into what the city is comfortable with.
We discussed if the City Council is in support of the land uses described by the Applicant? In the Northern area, it was suggested that we have a conditional use for it and in the Southern area we concluded that outdoor storage is not acceptable. Regarding the temporary transloading project, we don’t know what that means but should we allow it on an interim basis for a period of time.
We want to work with them but we have some concerns. They should come forward with a zoning text amendment and a conditional use permit and then we would have the opportunity to amend our code and approve what happens and put stipulations on a conditional use permit. We suggest that the tracks and driveway move so it is not a nuisance to the landowner in the area. Bolton & Menk will communicate with them that they need to provide us with a phasing plan for the whole property.
Due to those issues, the grading permit has not been issued yet and Bolton & Menk is not ready to approve.
There is a process to amend the zoning code and issue a CUP. Typically we see them consecutively so first we amend the code and then we issue the CUP. If we amend the code it will be for all industrial parcels.
The process is to tell the developer that the city council has discussed this and wants to work with them but not comfortable with everything. General comfort with the eco building and storage that is indoors. Outdoor storage is not okay and that needs to be adjusted on the site plan. Seeing the phasing plan and understanding the plans better so we can discuss this further. They were required to deposit $5,000 into escrow to cover the costs for this work.
New Business
River Country Coop
John Duchscherer the general manager and Dean Larson the location Manager at RiverCountry Cooperative came before the council with a more detailed plan on what they plan to do in the Spring of 2025.
They have presented their plans to Matt at Bolton & Menk and have been working with Mark our building inspector. They would like to start on building the new office as soon as this Spring in April or sooner which would be Phase 1. Phase 2 would be approximately July 1 they will start tearing down the north end of the fertilizer plant and they are working with MN Dept of Ag as there is contaminated soil underneath the fertilizer plant which will be remediated and disposed of appropriately. They also noted that all of the blending will now be done inside. There are plans for a future shop to be built. They will be hooking up to city sewer when available but they have plans in place until that happens. They are getting final bids and will be awarding them soon. They are going to be building up the land about 12 inches higher so they don’t have water issues. The contractor will start to move towards getting permits. We were all in agreement with what they are planning.
Appointment of new Committees
Acting Mayor – Jake Friedrich
Parks - Clerk Mary Haro, Mayor Marie Jacob and Council Member Randy Ferguson Sidewalks - Council members Jacob Friedrich, Tony Price and Randy Ferguson Streets – Council members Jacob Friedrich, Tony Price and Randy Ferguson Wellhead –Clerk Mary Haro and council member Tony Price
Civil Defense - Reed Kosir
Building Inspector – Mark Ceminsky, Beaver Creek Companies
City Attorney - Levander, Gillen & Miller
Prosecution Firm for City – Campbell Knutson
City Engineer - Bolton & Menk
Official Bank - Merchants Bank
Official Newspaper - Cannon Falls Beacon
Insurance - Northfield Insurance
Merchants Bank Accounts
We approved that the signers on the bank accounts at Merchants Bank be designated as Clerk, Mary Haro, Mayor, Marie Jacob and council member, Tony Price and that we should remove Todd Carlock as a signer from the accounts. Clerk Haro will notify Merchants Bank to get this changed.
Also our treasurer, Sandy Nicolai should have permission to transfer money between the accounts.
North Cannon River Watershed Management Organization
Todd Carlock was our representative and it was noted that it has to be a council member. Meetings are held once a quarter and the pay is $25.00 plus mileage. Randy Ferguson will be our representative for this organization. Clerk Haro will notify NCRWMC of this appointment.
Cannabis
They will not be issuing license until this summer at the earliest. Greta will do a presentation to the council. We do have the option to have the county administer it for the city. We will table this for a future meeting.
Sewer Project
They are working on reinstalling mail boxes. Some are done but some are not completed. They are working with the post office to get it done. ‘No Parking” signs need to be installed by the fire hall.
Also a citizen noted there is a pile of stuff on Duncan Court and was wondering what it was. Matt will look into it.
Council Member Reports
Any updates on snow removal. After the first snow fall most sidewalks were shoveled.
Jake reached out the sewer operator and he does not have a Class C license. He just needs to take the test. He wants to work under our insurance. We will keep his number to discuss regarding locates.
Clerk Haro noted that the Merchants Bank Hampton Branch is not going to be reopening. They decided to permanently close that branch. We do usually work with the Cannon Falls branch.
The first pine tree on the east end by Hwy 88 and Danel is tough to see the traffic. This needs to be looked into. We need to think about safety. Matt will look at this. The trees will need to be trimmed.
Adjournment
Motion to adjourn the meeting made by Friedrich, seconded by Jacob, the meeting was adjourned at 8:47 p.m. All voting in favor, none opposed, motion passed 5:0.