"COW: C - O - W........E - I - E - I - O!"

The Agritourism Task Force met again last Tuesday night from 7:00 to 8:35 p.m.
Fritz Frana was absent; Atina Diffley participated via conference call; all others were present.  Two members of the public were present.


The members once again further discussed the definitions, "triggers" for Township review, and the various possible uses.  Atina Diffley will do further work on performance standards, while Mark Paranto is going to work on a procedure for an Interim Use Permit (IUP) for agritourism, which may or may not be different from the procedure for other IUPs, such as for mining.

The group also discussed possible registration of such uses for a nominal fee.  This would allow the Township to know what is occurring within its borders, the landowner to state that the Township is aware of her use, as well as the dissemination of information regarding the triggers and when a Township review of the use is required, with a possible IUP, due to higher impact. This was met with a positive reaction by the committee members. It was noted that this is a different sort of use in that it could occur at a level whereby it would be permitted by right, but could also occur at a greater level of intensity, possibly requiring an IUP. This two-level approach is supported by public feedback from the public open house held in December, 2013.



(When I think that, earlier, it was thought by certain Board members at the time, that just a definition would suffice for regulation of this use, I shudder. The Task Force has discovered that it is, indeed, the complex subject that many members of the public said it was at the time of the hearing ON THE DEFINITION!!!)




The group canceled its March 26th meeting, but will meet again on April 3rd.  It will meet with TKDA Senior Planner,  Sherri Buss, on April 8th.  It plans to meet with the Township Attorney, with perhaps one more committee meeting before going to the Board with a recommendation.

Since this added use could affect systems such as traffic, it presumably must be submitted to the Metropolitan Council for input before final adoption.





Your faithful reporter has asked that the minutes from all these meetings and other materials be posted on the website now that it is "semi-up" again, but thus far this hasn't happened.  I'll try again!

Remember that your comments on this use can always be sent to Linda Wilson, Clerk, at the Township, and she will forward them to the Task Force for its consideration.  Otherwise, members of the public in attendance at the meetings have been given limited opportunity for such comment.  There will, of course, be an opportunity at a public hearing at some time in the future.