YELLOW IS THE SUN, A BABY CHICK, A BUTTERCUP, AND..........

Many of you have received an (unsigned!) yellow flyer attached to your mailboxes earlier this week concerning upcoming meetings of the Town Board and the Planning Commission. More about that later...

Due to inclement weather on March 23rd, the meeting that day was postponed; it is now re-scheduled for March 29th, the night of the other meeting that was also referenced in the flyer.

The Re-organizational Meeting of the Town Board will start at 6:00 p.m.

The special meeting of the Planning Commission with TKDA Senior Planner, Sherri Buss, and Patrick Boylan, Eureka Rep with the Met Council, and Kyle Colvin, Met Council "Sewer Guy" (for lack of his proper title) will start at 7:00 p.m. The Planning Commission invited the Board to attend as what will be discussed is pertinent to the updating of Eureka's Comprehensive Plan and issues concerning the possible annexation of the airport.

Following that discussion, the Planning Commission will discuss two ordinance changes with the Board: a fence ordinance and a provision to send postcards to all landowners when a public hearing, especially on zoning, will be held.

This last was raised by the Commission Chair at the Annual Meeting and was weighed in on by the citizens in attendance at that meeting. The Commission's recommendation to the Board was to extend (postcard) notification to all landowners for text amendments concerning land use. This was to answer the too-often-heard complaint at these public hearings: "If this affects the entire Township, why isn't everyone sent a letter?" The simple answer is that the statutory requirement for the Township is to publish notice in the Township's official newspapers with at least ten days' notice. In spite of always following that requirement, Township officials still hear such public comments such as "But I don't read the newspaper!" (Lead a horse to water...)

Although not required to send individual notice to all landowners, the Commission, with Board support, argued that it would probably be Township money well spent, if only to prevent the incorrect perception that something is happening "behind the scenes" and out of the public eye. The applicant for such a text amendment would bear the costs of this Township-wide notification, the same as the applicant's bearing the cost for CUP and IUP hearing notices to landowners within 1,000' of the proposed site.

This was taken a bit further by the citizens in attendance to include every public hearing, not only on text amendments concerning land use, but also for ordinance changes as well. These also require public notice in the official newspapers under the State Statutes, but pending Board approval of the recommendation, will go to all landowners, too.

Postcard and mailing costs for CUPs, IUPs, and land use Text Amendments will be borne by the applicant as stated above. All costs of notice for ordinance public hearings, however, will be borne by you, the taxpayer.




Your attendance to observe and listen at the public meetings to be held on Tuesday, March 29th, is encouraged and welcomed. You are entitled to this opportunity under the Open Meeting Law. Please note the important distinction between a public hearing and a public meeting. You have a right to speak at a public hearing and a right to listen and observe at a public meeting.

Do you have a policy for what you do with or how you regard unsigned letters? I do.

Do you have a policy for messages that seem to seek to alarm you or whose foundation you just have to question? I do.

Do you have a policy for emails/letters that are rife with misspellings and grammatical errors? I do.




If you desire to be fully informed, perhaps coming to meetings, listening and receiving the accurate answers is a good policy to adopt!