-
News
By Quinn Illi
CRYSTAL FALLS – A public hearing will be held at next month’s Crystal Falls City Council meeting on April 8. The purpose will be to discuss and vote on a variance request that would allow an accessory building to be built before a primary residence at 460 Johanson Road. This will be the second public hearing regarding the same request, the first happening at the November meeting of last year.
During the original public hearing, members of the public expressed concern about allowing the owner to build on what may be wetlands or floodplains. They requested the owner of the property acquire permits to build there from the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy or the Department of Natural Resources. The request was then denied by the council.
Since that meeting, City Manager Gerard Valesano said he has been in contact with surveyors from EGLE, who reassured him that the land was not on wetlands or floodplains, and that no permits were required from EGLE to build.
“I have all the information from EGLE, from both wetlands and floodplains division,” Valesano said. “Where he wants to build that, there is no permit required.”
This then leaves the issue of building an accessory structure before a primary residence.
“This is one of those ordinances,” Valesano said, “where houses were being built where property was available and they didn’t want land to be purchased and something built on there other than a house … Say, those eight lots [recently rezoned from the golf course]... you wouldn’t want people to come along and buy those lots and put garages on them, those lots should have houses on them.”
Valesano then clarified that, in this case, the area plotted out for the garage is not in wetlands but the lot as a whole is close to it and may not have enough room for a house.
A request such as this has not been denied, excluding the previous request in November. Although some of the original concerns have been addressed, members of the council still have reservations.
“I know how I’m going to vote,” said Chris Nocerini. “It’s up to you guys.”
The following matters were also discussed by the Crystal Falls City Council at its March meeting:
• The Council voted to accept the proposed changes to Ordinance No. 2.35 To Regulate Noxious Weeds and to Provide Penalties for Violations that included setting the allowed height of grass to eight inches, no longer requiring certified mail as a method of notice, and increasing the fines for violations.
• The audit for the City’s past fiscal year was presented and had no issues that required corrective action.
• The date and time for the City’s “Spring Clean Up” at the Bristol Mine Property was set as Saturday, May 11 from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m.
• An increase in fines relating to blight were discussed as a possibility moving forward.
The Crystal Falls City Council meets on the second Monday of the month at 5 p.m. in the Crystal Falls City Hall. The next meeting is April 8. More information is available at crystalfalls.org/city-council.