By Sara Quam
The Luverne City Council Tuesday passed a conditional use permit for Burdell and Julia Kruse to store rock materials in their backyard.
The original request comes to the council as a recommendation from the Planning Commission with specific limitations.
The Kruses, who live at 609 N. Cottage Grove, own a business that collects large boulders from area farmers' fields and then sells them for landscape decorations or other uses.
The business is set up across from the Mary Jane Brown Good Samaritan Center on Walnut Street, but their backyard is needed for extra storage.
The backyard falls in a flood plain and is next to a residential district. The actual storage space borders Dodge Street and Cottage Grove.
Some area residents complained, but the Kruses said they were willing to be accommodating in as many ways as possible, for example planting 125 trees along the property line.
The council said during its discussions that it felt the Kruse business wouldn't inhibit the residential feel of the neighborhood.
Mayor Glen Gust said, "If they are successful they might add to the employment base and certainly to the tax base."
Councilman and Planning Commission member Jim Kirchhofer said that the limitations are set because of the permit falling under "conditional use." It protects the city from having problems if any of the conditions aren't met.
Some of the conditions include:
providing off-street parking and loading space
properly anchoring the boulders to prevent flotation in the event of a flood
providing storage of other material or equipment that is readily removable in the case of a flood warning
limiting hours of operation to between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday
displaying or storing boulders only in the northern 2 1/4 acres of the lot
properly controlling weeds
displaying the boulders in a single layer formation with no large piles
The conditional use permit will terminate effective upon change of ownership on the property or after five years, whichever happens first.
At the five-year mark, the Kruses will reapply for the conditional use permit and the conditions will be reviewed if necessary.
Since the reapplication is mostly to reassure the city, the council recommended that the future council waive the application fee when it comes due.