March 27, 2007
Observer: Marcia Walters
The Rice County meeting was closed for a discussion between the commissioners, the P&Z department and an attorney to discuss the Fedder vs. Rice County lawsuit.
But prior to this, the board passed some routine items and listened to reports on the recently conducted bond sale and from the ditch inspector. They did agree to pay $1,500 to an angry landowner for damages claimed as a result of repair work done on one of Rice County's ditches. The landowner had requested an additional $10,200.
There were 14 items for board approval from Planning and Zoning, most of them CUP requests for gravel washing and crushing operations. Tri-County Aggregate had two such requests. The absent Jim Brown had requested a postponement on a request in Webster Township due to the confusion when the hearing before the Planning Commission had to be cancelled due to bad weather. After some discussion, the Tri-County representative agreed to drop his request for a Saturday crushing operation to facilitate the CUP.
Tri-County's other request was to continue operations in an area in Cannon City Township the DNR pointed out was zoned Wild and Scenic and thus legally could only be mined and not used for a washing and crushing process. The Planning Commission had recommended that the CUP be denied as crushing and asphalt operations are prohibited activities in such districts under state and county ordinances. Tri-County requested a continuance so they could meet with the DNR.
