PAGE 6 - INTER-COUNTY LEADER - NEWS SECTION - A - MARCH 11, 2009
P O L K
C O U N T Y
H E A D L I N E S
Fairground expansion comes to county board
by Gregg Westigard BALSAM LAKE – After skipping a meeting in February, the Polk County Board will meet Tuesday, March 17, with only three resolutions on its agenda. But one of those resolutions and a related presentation will help plan the future of the Polk County Fair. The meeting starts at 6 p.m. at the government center building in Balsam Lake and is open to the public. Last summer, the Polk County Fair Society set out to prepare a long-range plan for the fairgrounds in St. Croix Falls. Thomas Jennings, an architect with experience in fairgrounds planning, was hired to present ideas and options on how to develop the county fair and the county-owned property which hosts the annual fair. The results of that study, a 20-year plan complete with maps, will
be presented at the start of the Tuesday meeting. The county board may act on adopting the plan at its April meeting. Part of the draft plan includes changing the vehicle approach to the fairgrounds so that cars can reach the parking area without driving through the animal showing area. The change would cut congestion, increase safety, and free up land for the construction of a new indoor horse ring and exhibition area. Cars entering the fairgrounds at the east entrance off Louisiana Street would proceed straight north directly to the parking lots. There is now a house and barn blocking this approach and that is the subject of a resolution coming to the board. The house sits on 5.4 acres of land. The county has been offered a chance to purchase the property and the board will consider a resolution on whether to proceed with negotiations on the offer.
“I bought the land for the betterment of the kids,” Neil Johnson told the Leader. Johnson is a county board member and an owner of ITP, a St. Croix Falls company that now holds title to the property. Johnson bought the land at a foreclosure auction in the fall of 2007. He says he felt the property was needed by the fairgrounds and purchased the land to hold it for possible sale to the county. Johnson said his bid, the only one made, was a spur of the moment decision. The resale of the land to the county, which owns the land on which the fair society holds its annual event, has taken some time. The property committee of the county board, which oversees the fair, was concerned that the fair society had no long-range plan. While the planning discussion between the property committee and the society dragged on over the months, no action was taken on
the land purchase. With the 20-year plan on the table, that land sale might finally happen. Johnson, through ITP, is offering the property to the county for $153,676. Johnson told the Leader that this is the actual cost of the property and of expenses on the purchase since the fall of 2007. Those expenses include property taxes, cleanup and maintenance of the buildings, and interest costs on the investment. The offer at this price is being made only to the county. If the county adopts the master plan and purchases the property, the fair improvements could start this summer. Fair society officials told the property committee in February that the horse people are ready to start raising funds for a new arena now, and have a goal of collecting $650,000 for the new building.
Luck’s comprehensive plan criticized Cooperation with adjacent township is missing, says resident by Mary Stirrat LUCK — The chair of the plan commission for the town of Luck took issue with the proposed comprehensive plan for the village of Luck, saying that the village should have sought input from the town of Luck. The town of Luck surrounds the village on all sides except the southernmost tip. Stating that he was at the meeting on his own behalf and not that of the town plan commission, Gregg Westigard
aired his concerns to the board at the March 4 public hearing for the comprehensive plan. Many of the concerns could have been avoided, he said, had the village met with the town plan commission prior to the public hearing. The village board later voted to postpone any action adopting the plan until a meeting can be held with the town plan commission. This meeting is expected to take place in early April. While the comprehensive plan states the village and town will work jointly regarding boundaries areas, said Westigard, the village has sought no such cooperation. Instead, the plan includes sections on
village expansion into the township worded in an “antagonistic” way that imply “expansion and annexation are a certainty.” The comprehensive plan calls for housing developments on land outside village limits on town land and into property now held in trust. The way it’s written, said Westigard, “implies that the village has the right to put a hold on town land use until it, the village, is ready to implement its plans. These sections could be worded in a more cooperative way that reflects a role for each community.” Anther concern, said Westigard, is that the plan seems to be encouraging commercial development along Hwy.
35, both north and south of the village. “Is Hwy. 35 going to be like Hwy. 8 coming out of St. Croix Falls?” he asked in a later interview. Commercial enterprises should be centered in downtown Luck, he said. A third issue that should be discussed, according to Westigard, is the longrange impact of development on the existing water and sewer system. Seasonal cabins are being remodeled into year-round homes, which will have an effect on public utilities, he noted, and it should be made certain that the system can handle the increase. “Right now,” Westigard told the board, “there’s a lot of anger from this and there doesn’t have to be.”
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