The Crookston Planning Commission met on Tuesday evening, and the Crookston City Council had a special meeting on Wednesday evening at the City Hall Council Chambers. Both meetings were attended by a large crowd. The agenda for both meetings involved amending an ordinance request and a variance request for a building addition for Brent Epema, owner of B & E Meats.
PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING AMENDING ORDINANCE REQUEST
Epema wants to add a meat processing plant to his existing business in Industrial Park.
Epema currently employs 15 people, and the addition of a U.S.D.A processing plant for beef and pork, which would be in addition to the deer processing he already does, would add another 15 jobs for a total of 30 employees. Epema received approval to process meat (deer) when he moved into the building in 2006. It was found through the current process that slaughterhouses and processing plants were not officially switched as permitted uses in the I-1 Heavy Industrial Zone, forcing the amendment of the ordinance request.
The Planning Commission recommended moving forward with the ordinance amendment to the city council.
PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING VARIANCE REQUEST
The Planning Commission was also asked for a variance request by Epema to allow the addition to the current building to hold the beef and pork processing. “He requested a variance for an addition to his building. He’s looking at increasing his production size, but for the variance request, he’s basically approaching the north side,” said Crookston Building Inspector Greg Hefta. “I believe it was 55 feet in the required setback, where only he’d be at 32.5 feet. And to the west along Bruce Street, he requested a 20-foot setback instead of the 30-foot requirement.”
The planning commission recommended allowing the variance and sent the recommendation to the council. “There were several people that attended, you know, it was an excellent discussion, it was an open discussion, but I think it went well. People who were in favor and some who were opposing, whether it be the variance or allowing slaughterhouses,” said Hefta. “It was interesting to hear that all opinions are important and they’re all taken seriously and into consideration. At the end of the meeting, the planning and zoning department recommended moving forward with two of those, and of course, it is just a recommendation to the council. As we move forward to these council meetings coming up, the council has some decisions to make on what they plan to do moving forward.”
SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL MEETING –
The Crookston City Council Special meeting included the introduction of the amended ordinance and the other agenda item was to call for a public hearing on the zoning ordinance. Crookston City Attorney, Tanner Holten of Harbott, Knutson, Larson & Holten, PLLP recapped what the special council meeting was for. “Today was the introduction of the ordinance. The purpose of introducing an ordinance is to notify the public that, hey, this is something that you should consider, something that you should offer comment on, whether you’re for or against it. That’s to encourage the public to participate in this process,” said Holten who added. “The second item on the agenda was the call for the public hearing. That’s in order to amend the zoning ordinance to allow slaughterhouses in I-1, heavy industrial. The purpose of that, too, is to gather input from the public to get their opinions on what is appropriate or is not appropriate, and really just giving the public as many and as often opportunities to provide their opinion.”
There will be several meetings coming up. The schedule is below-
October 13 at 5:30 p.m. – Special City Council meeting to vote on the variance
October 20 at 5:30 p.m. – Regular City Council meeting with a public hearing
October 22 at 5:30 p.m. – Special City Council meeting to vote on the zoning