By Sara Quam
The Luverne Planning Commission voted Tuesday to recommend that the City Council rezone Fledgling Field from R-1 to R-2.
Commission members Dave Haugom, Bill Ketterling and Bob Dorn voted in favor of the change and Jim Kirchhofer voted against it.
The rezoning request came to the commission from Cornerstone Construction, St. Cloud, which purchased the land in April 2000.
Rezoning opens the door for Cornerstone to apply for a conditional use permit for a funeral home, to be used by Dingmann Funeral Home. R-2 zones allow funeral homes as conditional uses, but R-1's don't.
Even though the zone change was approved by the Planning Commission, the City Council has to first approve it by two-thirds majority and then approve a conditional use request specifically for a funeral home.
The change would involve two lots that are now zoned R-1, or low-density residential. The term R-2 refers to a multi-family zone.
Although the previous year's arguments for and against a funeral home were rehashed, the testimony also involved new points.
Dan Dingmann of Dingmann Funeral Home testified on behalf of Cornerstone Construction. He said, "[The land] sits on a major highway."
Dingmann employee Kurt Haugen said, "This is not a peaceful little neighborhood. It's a major highway."
City Council member David Hauge spoke. "We certainly don't want to make a decision based on popularity that can bring about legal ramifications," he said.
Legal issues the city could face were explained by Attorney Ben Vander Kooi. Courts can overrule it because it is considered spot zoning.
Although a funeral home development may not seem like a big issue to some in the city of Luverne, spot zoning is a big issue in the state. In the past, the courts have considered zoning changes to be all right if they expand or contract a particular zone.
In other words, having contiguous zones is the ideal. Putting an R-2 zone in the middle of an R-1 doesn't fit that standard.
Commission discussion
Commission member Haugom said, "Let's just decide on Luverne and if there are higher influences out there, then what can we do about it?"
Kirchhofer said he opposes the change because it doesn't fit into what previous councils and citizen groups have worked on for long-term plans. He said that for zones to change, it must be for a public necessity and general welfare.
Kirchhofer also said, "Residential areas need to be held in very, very high regard."
Dorn said he favored the zone change and would eventually favor a permit for a funeral home because of their history of good neighborliness in Luverne.
"I feel that a funeral home in that area would be a good thing," Dorn said. "If [the residents] can shut out the noise of trucks and semis driving by on the highway, maybe they can shut out the fact that a funeral home is there."
Kirchhofer said that when rezoning is considered, the primary uses of the zone should be the focus of debate. Here, he pointed out, a funeral home is only a conditional use, not a primary use. "Those conditions have to be deliberated over when itÕs applied for."
Haugom said he understands that funeral homes are a business in the sense that they are for profit. However, he said he doesn't see that they are like a service business that has high traffic.
Haugom said that the highway clouds the lines of a residential district in his way of looking at the zone.
Public testimony
The public hearing opened with testimony from citizens.
Eddie Deutsch said, "What I would like to see is to make the change and see what goes from there."
Deutsch can get around only by wheelchair and is frustrated by the current inaccessibility of the historic Dingmann location on West Main Street.
Craig Hohn, a pharmacist at Lewis Family Drug, said the city shouldn't make it difficult for businesses to construct on reasonable sites. Lewis went through a difficult time in site selection because it wanted a downtown location.
Tom Serie said he would prefer to see a funeral home if he had a choice. "I'm not thrilled about having multi-family housing there."
He compared a funeral home's amount of use to churches and day-care centers, which he said are businesses allowed in residential areas.
Jim Harner opposes the rezoning or a conditional use permit.
"We can safely assume that the intention is to build a funeral home eventually," Harner said.
He pointed out that if Cornerstone wanted to develop the lots into residences, R-1 zones allow for duplexes as well as single family dwellings.
Harner cautioned the commission against setting a precedent it wouldn't want to follow up on. "In the future, how would the Planning Commission deal with specific plots of land?"
Janine Papik said that if the Planning Commission rezones the plots of land for a specific use, any lot or land in any residential district is open for applications for rezoning.
"I still have a problem with purchasing land and trying to change it later," Papik said.
Roseanne Olson testified as a property owner near the field. "I'm definitely opposed to the R-2 zoning. I do not want to see a funeral home there; I've lived by one before."
The City Council meets Dec. 11 and 18 and may take up the issue at one of those meetings.
At the last Fledgling Field vote, for example, the council followed recommendations by the commission with slight modifications. Whether it follows the recommendation of the commission this time around is totally up to the council members.