A draft of new ordinances for Koochiching County includes the integration of ordinances, a new zoning district and the establishment of maximum density in several zones.
The Koochiching County Board is expected to set a tentative schedule for public review of the draft zoning ordinance when it meets Tuesday.
The board meeting is scheduled to begin at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday in the courthouse boardroom.
The new draft zoning ordinance is scheduled to be discussed during Environmental Services Department business at 10:55 a.m.
The county is the process of updating its zoning ordinance, which was last updated in 1975. Last week, the board reviewed the major changes made to the zoning ordinance by CR Planning, a consultant hired by the county to assist in updating the ordinance.
The draft ordinance is expected to be reviewed by the public during March and April. The board is also expected to meet with the Planning Commission to discuss the draft. Several public meetings on the draft are also expected to be set by the board.
Also on Tuesday, the board is scheduled at 11:05 a.m. to hear a review of projects and long-range plans from the Laurention Resource Conservation and Development Agency.
During Land and Forestry Department business at 10:45 a.m., the board is scheduled to obtain park attendant contracts to provide site management at county-administered parks and accesses along Rainy River for the early fishing season.
Community Services Department business is scheduled to be discussed by the board at 10:50 a.m.
The board is scheduled to meet as a committee to review Extension’s nutrition program at 1:30 p.m. In addition, the board is scheduled to discuss a request from the Minnesota Counties Information Systems for financial support in construction of a new MCIS building. Sites in Grand Rapids, Coleraine and Cohasset are being considered for sites.

Draft ordinances
Meanwhile, the draft of the new development ordinance was presented to the board last week by CR Planning, a consultant helping the county in the development of a new ordinance.
Several public meetings are expected to be held this summer to give residents an opportunity to review and ask questions about the new ordinance. The county board also plans to conduct a joint meeting between the county board and the Planning Commission to discuss the ordinances. The commission has been working with CR Planning to develop the new comprehensive ordinance for more than one year.
The new ordinance needs to be comprehensive and encompass a variety of land use and laws that have been enacted since 1975 — the last time the county’s ordinances were updated, Environmental Services Director Richard Lehtinen said.
The county had seven different ordinances on land use, which have been combined into the one development ordinance that Jean Coleman, of CR Planning, said she hopes is user-friendly and eliminates redundancy.

Zoning district changes
Residents should see big changes, Lehtinen said. Instead, county officials intend to make zoning district policies more flexible in how the land can be developed, he said.
A maximum density was established for zoning districts to give developers more choice when creating subdivisions, Lehtinen said. The new ordinance also encourages dwellings to be clustered in some zones to protect the rural character of the area, Coleman said.
The new ordinance sets the maximum density for zone R-1, or residential district, at one dwelling per five acres. The minimum lot area per unit was also decreased for zone R-1 from 2.5 acres to two acres. The R-1 district promotes low-density development on large lots in areas not requiring public water and sewer services, according to the draft ordinance.
For zone R-2, the maximum density is set at one dwelling per two acres. The R-2 district provides for one- and two-family residences without livestock at a higher density than the R-1 residential district. The R-2 district is located near urban centers and provides a transitional district between urban densities and rural densities, according to the draft ordinance.
For zone RR-1, or the residential recreation district, the maximum density was set at one dwelling per one acre. The RR-1 district provides for seasonal and year-round residential development and recreation-oriented services in areas of high recreational value, according to the draft ordinance.
For zone AF-1, or agriculture and forestry, the maximum density was set at one dwelling per 20 acres and the minimum lot area per unit was changed from 10 acres to 2.5 acres. The intention of the changes was to protect agricultural land, Lehtinen said. The AF-1 district encourages agriculture and forest management programs and recognizes the value of the forest as a recreational resource, according to the draft ordinance.
The maximum density for zone OS-1, or open space, was set at one dwelling per 40 acres. The density was set at that to protect the county’s open space from over development, limit the need for infrastructure in remote areas and protect natural resources, Coleman said.

Rural villages
The new ordinance also includes a new zone called rural village. Rural village would be a small unincorporated area, such as Birchdale, Ray and Ericsburg, that would include a variety of land uses, Lehtinen said.
Part of the reason for the new zone is to recognize those areas, Coleman said. The ability to have a diversity in land use — industrial, residential and institutional uses — would increase opportunities for small businesses in the communities, she said.

Standards for specific land use
Standards for three specific land uses were established in the draft ordinance. The standards are for bed and breakfast establishments, home occupations and excavation or extraction of materials or minerals.
The purpose is to limit the impacts those uses have on the land around the site, Coleman said.
The standards caused Commissioner Wade Pavleck to question the reason for zoning.
“No one has a right to cause problems to others, but how can we tell people what to do on their property?” Pavleck said.
When off-site impacts occur because of the land use, it is justification for the government to step in and limit the land use, Coleman said. The standards in the draft ordinance don’t prevent the three activities, but create hurdles.
The purpose of zoning is to control the range of property use, Lehtinen said. The idea of zoning historically came out of people wanting to protect their property values and not from a desire of the government to restrict land use. Zoning accomplishes this by segregating land uses, he said.

Koochiching County board news notes
• The Koochiching County Board tabled acceptance of Tony Mueller’s resignation from the East Koochiching Sanitary Sewer Board. The action was based on the sewer board’s tabling of the acceptance at its meeting Monday.
The sewer board tabled the action to consider how to move forward, Commissioner Kallie Briggs said. Mueller is resigning due to health issues, according to his letter to the sewer board.
• The board approved terminating three service agreements on the recommendation of Terry Murray, director of the Community Services Department. The agreements were for non mandated services. Murray said Community Services Department is at the point financially where it can provide only programs that are mandated by the state government. The county’s Community Services Department was over budget in 2007 and needs to do what it can to stay within the budget, Murray said.
• The board heard that the county’s Public Health Department has received very few complaints regarding the Freedom to Breathe Act, which banned smoking in Minnesota beginning in October 2007, according to Nancy McHarg, of the Public Health Department.
The department received one written complaint and several verbal complaints about smoking in a facility. The issue was not an issue about smoking in a bar, McHarg. Those complaints were sent on to the state, McHarg said.
Overall, McHarg said the implementation of the smoking ban has gone well. States and cities that have undergone a smoking ban before Minnesota’s act indicate it takes a year before businesses can judge how it affected sales, McHarg said. For a majority of businesses, revenues increased for businesses after a year.
The number of calls regarding smoking cessation has also increased, McHarg said.
• The board heard that people who wish to apply for assistance from the women, infants and children program in the county’s Public Health Department will now be required to apply for medical assistance also.
Public Health Director Susan Congrave said she was disappointed in the new requirement because the result will be another road block for those who wish to apply. But most of the people who apply are already on medical assistance, according to Congrave. The department needs to put something in place to simplify the process for them, Congrave said.