After a great deal of discussion over the past two weeks regarding potential liability issues, the county board agreed on March 12, 2013 to enter into a partnership with the Cook County Historical Society for the purchase of the Bill Bally Blacksmith Shop. The historical society needed a fiscal partner in order to apply for a grant from the Minnesota Historical Society that would fund the purchase.
A review of the property was conducted by an environmental consulting firm after the board expressed concerns about potential liability for any environmental contaminants that might be found on the property. Planning & Zoning Director Tim Nelson said that as long as the property is not altered, nothing would trigger further investigation. He said property owners are expected to notify the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency if evidence of contamination is found, such as oil discovered in the ground while grading or excavating.
Nelson said the consultants estimated that if the ground did contain contaminants, the cost of cleaning them up might be $20,000-$40,000. The county would be able to avoid liability for contamination that was there before it purchased the property, however.
The board passed two motions: one to enter into a purchase agreement with the historical society and the seller, the estate of Karen Holte, and the other to enter into a management agreement with the Cook County Historical Society, with the understanding that the county will transfer ownership of the property to the historical society after five years when the partnership requirements of the grant have been fulfilled.
The sellers will be removing the waste oil containers currently on the property and will have the well inside the blacksmith shop capped.
The closing date will be August 1, 2014 or before, which gives the historical society time to procure the hoped-for grant.
Schroeder survey
A public hearing held later in the morning on assessing costs for the latest Schroeder survey did not draw a lot of comment from the public. Property owners with less than 31 acres will pay a flat fee of $600 and those with more acreage will pay just over $17.66 an acre.
Numerous communications with property owners had resulted in confusion over how much the survey would cost individual property owners, with some thinking they would pay no more than $500. Auditor- Treasurer Braidy Powers told the commissioners that expectations would be stated more clearly in any further surveys involving the county.
County-appointed surveyor Wayne Hensche said that the county has now had 150 square miles of land surveyed and that the U.S. Forest Service has had 200 square miles surveyed, precise to one centimeter.
Commissioner Garry Gamble said the setting of the cost per property owner had been fair and Hensche had been gracious in providing the service at “a very reasonable price.”
Schroeder property owner Gerald La Berge said he and Hensche had come to a “gentleman’s agreement” regarding the cost of his assessment because a portion of his property had already been assessed in recent years.
Maple Hill gravel pit
Despite objections from some members of the public, the board decided to purchase a piece of property adjacent to the southeast side of the county’s gravel pit by the Maple Hill Cemetery. County Highway Engineer David Betts and Maintenance Supervisor Russell Klegstad requested the purchase in order to create an access to the gravel pit that would be shorter, quieter for nearby residents, and safer because of the hill the pit is on.
The highway department has repaired a breach in a berm at the bottom of the pit and plans to create storm water retention ponds to keep sediment from entering a nearby stream and neighboring properties.
The pit is one of the county’s richest sources of clay, which is used as a binder on gravel roads, and has been used for about 30 years. Engineer Betts estimated the pit could continue supplying clay at the rate the county has been using it for another 100-250 years.
A nearby resident expressed concern about having found a source of water not too far from the surface of the gravel pit, but Betts said he was fairly certain it was “perched” water trapped above impervious material such as clay but well above the main water table. The resident said he would consider a lawsuit if his well water, which recently tested very clean, becomes contaminated with sediment.
Charlie Humphrey, who owns a gravel pit, said the county could buy a lot of clay for the amount of money they would be spending to purchase the new access, build a road on it, and maintain the pit. Betts said the parcel has only been generating $150 a year in property taxes and accessing the pit through the parcel would save a lot of money because the county trucks would no longer have to go up the entire Maple Hill Cemetery Road and around to the top of the pit. “The land is still an asset we [would] own,” he said.
In a February 20 memo to the board, Klegstad wrote, “The Maple Hill pit has been invaluable to our operations. The reality is that our county has no other good source for the same material we routinely use from the Maple Hill pit.”
The board went into closed session to discuss the purchase and after re-opening the meeting, passed a motion to buy the 10-acre property for $45,000 with a vote of 3-1, with Jan Hall absent and Heidi Doo-Kirk voting nay. “I personally say aye,” she said, “but for the people I represent I say no.”
Leave a Reply