Out of Control Township “Leadership”

 

The Eureka Town Board applied for a Comprehensive Plan Amendment “clarification” that could take over $11 million of property value from a total of 200 property owners in Eureka. Are you one of them? It also proposes ill-considered, sweeping rezoning for Commercial and Industrial uses. Is any of it next to you or may potentially increase traffic on a road you use daily?

Perhaps you might want to learn more about what the current Board and Planning Commission have been up to this year, with obviously poor research and understanding behind their imaginations?  Please read on.

Serious consideration needs to be given to finding more conscientious and common sense candidates to run for Town Board to better reflect the values and property rights of you, your friends, and your neighbors. The filing deadline to run for election is rapidly approaching – January 13, 5 pm.

This post will highlight a timeline of Town Board and Planning Commission comments and actions of major concern plus my ignored attempts to inform and educate on Eureka’s Zoning, including both what is in place today plus the history of how and why it evolved to what it is.

Then I will separately post more details on each major topic, to make them more digestible than if in one massive posting. Comments are easy to offer, but I consider backing them up with detailed explanations and actual data research is essential to accurate understanding.      

4/29/2024 – 3-1/2-page Otto email via Clerks to all Board and PC members as overview and background for newly seated Board and PC members.  Provided history of Zoning amendments since 2010, need to finish updating Zoning and Subdivision ordinances with invitation to ask me questions and offer to continue volunteer help to assist with follow-up. No acknowledgement, no contact, no public comment by either body. This is but one example of my attempts to explain need to finish updates and clarifications to Ordinances 240 Zoning and 216 Subdivision that were suddenly cut off and rushed out the door in February 2023.

12/17/2024 – Open House (at 5:30pm) regarding possible Commercial /Industrial zoning. No opportunity for actual public Q&A dialog since.

1/11/2025 – 2-page Otto email with 1-page property tax sample (public data from Dakota County website) to WSB consultant Rybak, with permission of WSB lead planner Sparks, describing Zoning evolution and data on number of houses plus available unused Housing Rights in Township. See related points on later dates.

1/27/2025 – 1-1/2 Otto email again pointing out unfinished Zoning updates plus significant inconsistencies in the Subdivision ordinance related to Zoning. Also points out apparent lack of understanding of the limited value of $995/year base fee for outside company’s zoning software with added fees for amendment updates. 

1/28/2025 – Otto email identifying housing rights lost to annexation that could have been sold by owners prior to annexation for approximately $30,000 each, but no Eureka outreach to inform them of opportunity. Meanwhile, growing awareness of families desiring to move to Eureka who can’t find a Housing Right seller to be able to build where desired. This is lost tax base for us. Also pointed out that tax revenue of some sample businesses in Eureka actually were assessed at lower per-acre values than residential homes alone. This used same data in 1/25/2025 email to consultant WSB.

1/30/2025 – 2-page Otto email “Correcting Uninformed Opinion” to Board, PC, both WSB consultants, and Town Attorney Gilchrist.  All had been present (so why they were copied) at 1/28 Roundtable discussion (Board with PC) where Board Chair Pete Storlie stated “Transfers are a disaster.”, adding that he thought it was terrible that a resident should have to pay $30,000 or even $5000 to get a housing right.  My email (public comment not allowed at Roundtable) pointed out that “land that can be built upon is more valuable than the same land if not buildable”. Eureka has also had 60 documented Housing Right moves benefiting 120 families (the owner and the family desiring to build).  Most of those involved family with no payment changing hands. 120 families represents about 22% of Eureka benefited, not what I would call a disaster.

5/27/2025 – Hearing on Comprehensive Plan amendment (referenced at start of this posting). Hearing locked down to limit public comment to only 5 minutes per person. No responses to questions allowed. I provided 150 pages of documentation including a 77-page report detailing all 953 properties in Eureka as of April 2025. Totals in reports included houses built, remaining Housing Rights (and which type of Right), and business and County Assessor-assigned property types affecting tax rates  (residential, agricultural, business, etc.).  The data shows the massive negative impact of the amendment housing language. The Planning Commission did not look at a single page of it, nor did the Board as reflected in no discussion or change to the Comp Plan amendment language. There is a lot to these two Comp Plan amendment subjects that will be unpacked for their lack of research and inaccurate statements including by consultant Sparks that defy logic, common sense, and legality. Blog postings on each subject will follow very soon.

6/4/2025 - Otto email to WSB planner Nate Sparks with attached 37-page Zoning Master report and 77-page Housing Right Status report that were included with my 5/27/2025 Hearing submission. I pointed out that his map showing housing properties was so understated that it looked like corruption in the computer data download. He said that was not focus of map and made no subsequent public explanation or change to his input and endorsement of the Comp Plan amendment.

I note that the map key did not make this point. The amendment is literally based on no actual data provided by anyone – except me and it was totally ignored by all parties.

June-August 2025 – Comp Plan Amendment out for 60-day comment period from adjacent towns and cities. Exact date of submission to Metropolitan Council not known (whether before or after comment period).

October thru 12/9/2025 – no update from Board except 12/9/2025 Board comment “We continue to work with the Met Council.”  Treasurer’s Report detail includes several WSB line items related to conversations with both Met Council and unnamed board member. Nothing specific to any topic within amendment. Also, one of the WSB billing items was for 1.25 hours and $132.50 to calculate Eureka acreage, a number I had freely provided 5/27 and 6/4 in my reports, clearly identified based on County property data in my data reports.  

Other Topics of Concern

12/17/2024 – Commercial/Industrial Open House also had interesting chart showing 10-year “drought” of tax levy not increasing 2011-2020. Mid-2025, Board proposes to arrange for a $1 million bond to be issued, which would cost Eureka taxpayers approximately $400,000 in interest, to “catch up” on road maintenance. I’d rather have spent $400,000 on gravel when needed than interest now for “saving money” in past.

4/8/2025 - Process for Move-in of a structure mishandled, forcing applicant to later pay $30,000 extra cost to park his structure outside Eureka until other steps were completed first. This reflects Township errors in understanding Zoning requirements of allowing sequential steps to move a structure followed by necessary construction to install it on a lot and obtain a proper Occupancy Permit as a house (single family dwelling).

7/8/2025 - Housing Right Transfer mishandled with two questionable steps. Applicant sought to move a Housing Right to his new 2-acre parcel created by a proper Lot Split of his main farm property. The action and final result were fine, but the Township inserted two un-needed steps to the process that appear to contradict ordinance. This also sets a bad precedent for future Township handling.

11/25/2025 – Board Resolution to change elections (and service terms) to be put on Township ballot. Saves money by combining Eureka election (currently every March) with State and National November elections every 2 years.  This also means terms for Board Supervisors and appointed Planning Commissioners change to 4 year terms instead of 3 years.  Given the challenge of finding residents willing and able to serve even 3 year terms, is this a good trade-off?

                                                    by Jeff Otto