POSITIVE MOVEMENT ON AGRITOURISM DISCUSSION!

I once again attended the latest Agritourism Task Force meeting on Wednesday, December 18th, along with three other members of the public.  The committee hosted an "outside speaker," Mike Wozniak, planner and Zoning Administrator for Goodhue County.  Goodhue County has enacted agritourism ordinances that have been in effect for a few years now. Mr. Wozniak has been in the profession for over thirty years and was quite articulate on the subject.  He presented what Goodhue County has done, provided informational handouts from other jurisdictions such as Michigan which has done work on the matter, and answered the group's and the audience's questions. His contributions were many, including advice to be very clear about what the Township wants to do regarding uses and regulations and his support of the idea of engaging a planner to assist with the process.  I think his input was very valuable, as did the others at the meeting who thanked him for his time of nearly two hours' discussion.


At the meeting before the last one, the task force met with Bob Patton, of the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, for his take on the subject from the state level.  During his report from that aspect, he mentioned yet another gentleman at the state who is working on a definition of "agritourism" for Minnesota.


Over the past week between these two meetings, three members of the task force (not a quorum) also met with Gary Shelton, Administrator for Scott County.  They reported what they had learned from him and also about his suggestion that, if desired, they could speak to Brad Davis, also of Scott County.  I have spoken to Brad in the past during one of the training sessions given by Government Training Services in which he took part as a speaker and found him to be very approachable and knowledgeable.  He is the Planning Department Manager for Scott County and has experience and background that could be of benefit to Eureka and its citizens.  I hope that the Agritourism Task Force will follow through and set up a meeting with Brad as well.


I am encouraged by this approach that the committee has taken.  Some of these attempts at information gathering were made by certain Planning Commissioners on their own initiative before the appointment of the task force, since they recognized the importance of learning from others' experiences.  No need to work in a vacuum and reinvent the wheel!  It is wonderful that staff working for other local government units are so generous with their time and expertise. That the committee as a whole has welcomed and sought this input is a positive step in gathering a good foundation to explore the subject further, I believe. "Thank you!" to those who are volunteering their time and commitment to serve on the task force.  Let's hope we continue to proceed with a thoughtful, deliberative process!

On another subject, unfortunately, at this time, the website does not have the task force's minutes and other materials available to the public, as I was hoping would be the case by this point. (See "Coming Soon to a Website Near You?" post.) I encourage the committee and the Board to expend the energy to make this happen soon.  Not everyone can attend meetings, but everyone should have accessibility to the meetings' progress at his fingertips.  It is important not only that the public is fully informed of the conversations on this land use in our Township, but that being so informed then has the further valuable opportunity to weigh in with opinions and suggestions as things move ahead.


Along those lines, the Agritourism Open House held on Thursday, December 12th, was attended by

perhaps 25 people in addition to the task force members, and still others availed themselves of the opportunity to submit comments via email, USPS or the drop box. Although some on the task force earlier expressed that they felt there would be a very low turnout or that only those people who were against the use would show up, I do not feel that was the case at all. As a fellow citizen, "thank you" to all those who took the time to be involved in our community, especially during this very busy time of year!  If you haven't taken the time to do so yet, your neighbors would like to hear from you!