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A preliminary plat for 75 single family homes, potentially 167 apartments in a collection of buildings and seven future commercial lots,  tied to  a request to amend a portion of residential development code, were both tabled at last week’s North Branch City Council meeting.  Council agreed 5-0 they need more information.    

The project, called Cedar Ridge,  is located south of the outlet mall and between the freeway and Falcon Avenue.  The mall frontage road would be extended southward and 381st Lane would be extended, with westerly access at 382nd onto Falk Avenue.

Also to be considered is lack of feedback from Chisago County, which has Falcon Avenue, from Highway 95 to 370th and the city picks up responsibility from 370 to the city border at 360th, according to the public works director.

Mayor Kevin Schieber commented that the planning commission presentation was “confusing.” The planning commission recommended denial of all the requests.

The mayor thinks there is some general misunderstanding getting in the project’s way.  “I think we need more time,” he offered.

The applicants said the city code language and a matrix (chart) carry conflicting information.  City staff explained the ordinance revision is needed to clarify allowed uses and to align all portions of the city code.

The applicants asked for an extension on action regarding the ordinance wording and the plat.  After lengthy discussion by council— the wording revision to allow for single family homes to be built in R-3 zones and the  early plat were tabled.

Council will have this development on the agenda again June 10 — but from comments made last week, it is likely the actions may be delayed even further.

Meanwhile city development director Nate Sondrol will meet with the developers and get more detail about future land use on the commercial lots and get more detail on the apartment sites being created but which are not being built right away.

Council member Patrick Meacham also said he needs to hear a discussion on lot depth and width for the single family buildings and in general North Branch should review R-3 districts and their siting.  There’s 200-plus acres of R3 in North Branch and Meacham remarked that the positioning of some of these zones may not be to the city’s benefit.   

Council did support 5-0 a street speed study that will take into consideration where handicap access points are and look at speeds that conflict with neighboring streets’ posted speeds.

The quote for the study by WSB was about $15,800.   

Look for public input meetings and some data to begin to be released in 45 days or so. 

A representative from the Minnesota Department of Corrections, Brad VanderVegt, was given time at the start of the agenda to talk about predatory offender assessment, release process, supervision and public notice rules.  There are no publicly- identified offenders in Chisago County at this time, according to the state’s registry online.

The mayor introduced Vandervegt and alluded to concerns floating around town and on social media—but was not specific.

Vandevegt explained Minnesota’s rules governing public notice were created for transparency on subjects deemed displaying the potential to reoffend, who are assessed after imprisonment on predatory crimes.  If a person was never incarcerated there won’t be a notice level on which to allow informing the public of their address.  

Statutes to check for details  include 243.166 and 243.167 and 244.052 and 244.053.  The state Department of Corrections and Minnesota Department of Public Safety websites have extensive information on the issue and there is a predatory offender search database by county.

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