The Crookston Planning Commission voted Tuesday night to pass the Gateway Overlay District Ordinance on to the Ways & Means Committee next week. Before the vote to recommend the ordinance to Ways & Means, Tanner Holton, an attorney working with City Attorney Corky Reynolds answered a couple of questions the commission had forwarded to the Reynolds after the last meeting.
The commission had forwarded a question regarding multi-use buildings with multiple tenants and whether a change in tenants would require a non-conforming building to make changes. Holten said it would depend on the circumstances using an example that a non-conforming toy store changing to a pet store may be seen legally as the same non-conforming legal usage. A building with a conditional use permit would be required to change when the permit expired or was revoked because the approved use was conditional. City Administrator Shannon Stassen said it will come down to a case by case basis and having conversations about ways to become conforming. “If there are multiple uses in a building it would come down to the owner of the building, not the renter,” said Stassen. “I think what we would end up most likely doing is taking things on a case by case basis. When the opportunity comes with a change of use to have that discussion and encourage if we have a non-conforming use that was changing come into conformity at that point. It would certainly trigger a conversation and if a non-conforming use we’d work towards making those improvements.”
One edit was made to the ordinance during the meeting. Under prohibited uses was manufactured and pre-fabricated homes. The commissioners felt like a business selling new structures should be able to operate like the Homark location in Fosston, but they wouldn’t want to see used or accessory structures said, Stassen. “The language was under prohibited uses,” said Stassen. “What we did was add in front of pre-fab and modular homes the word used. We’d certainly allow new manufactured modular home sales. What would still remain prohibited is the accessory structure sales.”
A unanimous vote moved the ordinance to the upcoming Ways & Means Committee agenda. Councilman Dale Stainbrook said the commission had put a lot of work into the ordinance and although results are probably years down the road the City of Crookston needs to start somewhere. “We’ve been working at this a very long time,” said Stainbrook. “We’ve had an open forum with the community to answer their questions, we’ve taken questions to the attorney to make sure we are following the right path. I think it’s time to move it forward to Ways & Means. There will probably be a few more questions there but now I think we can answer the questions for the council. We’re probably not going to see results for 10 to 20 years but it’s the right move to attract new business and make the gateways neater.”
Existing businesses would be grandfathered in under the ordinance and changes in usage would need to be reviewed on a case by case basis. “The existing businesses are grandfathered in,” said Stainbrook. “I’m sure they want to make everything look as nice as possible too, to make it attractive to customers. It’s a work in progress, it will be for a few years and we’re just hoping for the best. Having things in black and white in an ordinance I still think a lot of it will be case by case for whatever comes up.”
