The room at the senior center Buckham West, just west of Buckham Library was pretty full, with perhaps 50 attendees. The presenter was Jeremy Edwards, Rice County’s environmental
planner. The meeting was scheduled for 5:30-7:30 pm, with the first half hour open for
attendees to mingle and examine the exhibits along the walls of the room detailing proposed changes. County Commissioner Galen Malecha and Northfield City Administrator Ben Martig were present in the audience.
This article clearly explains the background of these changes:
https://www.southernminn.com/faribault_daily_news/news/county-drafts-zoning-changes-to-preserve-farmland-steer-development/article_5009c24c-6f83-11ee-ba90-2b5fdcb87b9b.html
The proposed zoning changes are intended to encourage more housing development in Rice County while preserving prime farmland for agriculture. The 2040 comprehensive plan for Rice County relied on a now obsolete measure of soil quality (the Crop Equivalent Rating) to determine how dense rural housing could be, while preserving prime farmland. Since the CER is no longer supported by the University of Minnesota, the County plans to switch to the more accurate Crop Productivity Index for rating soils to determine how much land to allow to be developed with housing instead of being preserved for agriculture.
The County chose a rating level of 72 on the CPI as the ceiling for permitting 2 homes per 40 acres. Land rated above 72 will be zoned for only one home per 40 acres. The number 72 was selected to minimize change from the old CER system and thus to minimize impact on
landowners. Out of thousands of quarter-quarter sections of 40 acres, about 100 are affected by the change.
While many rural landowners have no intention of developing their land, the rating system allots them Transfer Development Rights, which do have monetary value. The law permits these
TDRs to be traded away (sold) to permit development on other land within the same township.
On display were maps of Northfield, Faribault, Lonsdale, Millersburg and the villages of Rice County. One purpose of the proposed changes to zoning is to standardize treatment of land adjacent to these cities and villages. Cannon City, Veseli, Millersburg and Shieldsville have defined Planned Unit Developments. Areas zoned as PUDs remain agricultural unless and until a landowner has an approved project with a developer.
After Edwards’ presentation, the audience was invited to examine the maps and talk with a
relevant official at each map area, to be followed by a half hour of questions and discussion. At 7: 20 the Q&A had not begun and I left.
