Urban Fringe

Is Eureka an Urban Township?  We could be.  Some think we already are.

It sounds like an oxymoron (from Greek ὀξύμωρον, "sharp dull") like jumbo shrimp, living dead, baggy tights...but there is such a thing as an Urban Township. You can look it up on Wikipedia or if you would like a more trustworthy source, in Minnesota Statute.

If a township is close enough (within 20 miles) to downtown Minneapolis or St. Paul it becomes one automatically, otherwise if it has a population over 1000 it can vote at the Annual Meeting to become an Urban Township.  We're 25 miles out but we are that large.  Being an Urban Township would provide Eureka with abilities that other, more rural or less populated townships do not have.  Simply put, Urban Towns have economic development authority and can create public works.

If we really saw the need, we could exercise any authority provided to an Urban Township.  We could have sidewalks, sewers, hospitals, parks, waterworks, a fire department, regulate merchants, taxi drivers, and animals, collect garbage, exercise the power of eminent domain...all kinds of things that we don't currently do. But we understand that with a pretty much volunteer government it would be hubris to act like a city or a county and start doing that long list of things.  I am certainly not making this recommendation.  If you look at our Comprehensive Plan, we have agreed that Eureka should remain open, agricultural, with limited rural residental for the time being.

So why do I bring this up when it seems like all I can post about is agritourism?

Well, I am going to suggest that topics as complex as agritourism may be best left to county governments.  I believe it is hubris for even an Urban Township to enact an ordinance that affects a 6 x 6 mile area in an urban-fringe setting with only the opinions of nonprofessionals, kin, or those who may profit.

I maintain that currently, our Township Government  just doesn't have the perspective, the research staff, the enforcement capabilities or the emotional and personal distance to create a definition of Agritourism and then write a legally supported ordinance with enforceable conditions. Nonetheless, the Board is rushing the Planning Commission to schedule a public hearing on what I perceive to be overly simplistic and not very thoughtful (and grammatically incorrect) language.

Newly remodeled kitchen, Red Barn pizza farm

Consider what happened in Warsaw Township in Goodhue County as they initially reacted positively to the Cannon River Winery.  After neighbors started to complain about traffic and activity, the Township decided the issue was too complex and hard to enforce and gave authority to Goodhue County.  However, emotions in Warsaw Township were already high and when the County listed as one of the 16 special conditions that the winery post when all events (weddings, private gatherings) were to be scheduled, coincidentally, neighbors saw that as a time to do some target practice.

But that's Warsaw Township; surely no one in Eureka....

Another neighboring County, Rice, has begun discussion of Agritourism, following the rapid growth of a local pizza farm that even attracted attention of  Twin Cities restaurant critics. Note that this is a now being discussed by the county level, not Northfield Township, even though their Town Hall is directly across from the pizza parking lot.  The Township initially allowed the pizza farm to exist and made some simple rules regarding parking, etc.  But it got too big and complex for them.  Now that Rice County is looking into this topic, things are proceeding more slowly and methodically as they explore all of the possible ramifications as this quote from the Wed. July 17th Northfield News reveals:

  "First we have to try to define what agricultural tourism is," Rice County environmental services director Julie Runkel said during the board meeting. "We (staff) think in order to call it agricultural tourism the primary use should be ag, with incidental and secondary use being the tourism."   ...The commissioners directed Runkel to conduct more research on the idea of agricultural tourism, including providing more examples of counties that allow the tourism and creating a more comprehensive list of what agricultural tourism entails.

Ask anyone who deals with the townships in Dakota County and they have heard of Eureka--we're kind of a renegade Township.  We have a reputation for being difficult, for having intractable controversies, for getting sued, for treating elected officials and professionals in County government badly, for belligerently forging our own way.  Some may take pride in that reputation.  I don't.

Eureka, an urban-fringe township. Sure, we can enact a far-reaching ordinance; we can prove a point, exercise our authority, but do we really want to create a minefield with this unexplored ordinance?

We'll be setting the hearing at the August 5th Planning Commission meeting. It will have to be at least 10 days after that.  Look for a late August or early September date.  Then show up and let your opinion be heard!