BRITTON CITY COUNCIL: TREE ORDINANCE READING POSTPONED

    The Britton City Council held their regular meeting on Monday night. A lengthy topic of discussion was the proposed tree ordinance, Ordinance #607, the first reading of which had been approved at the previous meeting. Two people spoke during the public voice portion of the meeting about the ordinance. Tom Farber asked the council various questions about the measure. He noted the ordinance is not clear if a property owner can plant trees in the right of way between the curb and sidewalk, essentially in the boulevard. No definitive answer was given to this. 
    Farber commented that he found the required planting distance between trees to be too far. He also suggested the city use visual aids to help with trimming requirements as the city of Sioux Falls does. Farber asked if a permit would be required to plant a tree in the right of way, to which Fredrickson suggested it is likely.
    Jeanne Ahlgren was also present to comment on the ordinance. She brought up several concerns with the ordinance including what she views as the lack of notice for property owners concerning potential problems with their trees and no method of grievance should the city find a problematic tree. “This ordinance does not adequately take into consideration the right of Britton citizens and property owners,” Ahlgren said. She noted that she had recently had trees cut down in her yard where she was not given advance notice nor provided proof of a problem.
    Fredrickson reminded her that if a tree is in the right of way, which is twenty feet from the curb, it is city property, and the city will do what they feel is best in each situation. Ahlgren added that she feels some of the parts of the ordinance are personally targeting her and past situations she has had with the city. Later in the meeting, the council decided to postpone the second reading of the ordinance to take time to consider the public input.
    In regular agenda items, an ISG engineer noted that updates to the pavement management plan have been made per the council’s comments at the March meeting. Changes include revising the first projects to align with comments to reconstruct 10th Ave as a collector roadway. Budget and cost information were also updated. The revised plan will be presented at a future meeting.
    A couple of zoning matters were discussed. A hearing for Amber Schempp representing LC Enterprises was held. Schempp was requesting a rezone of their recently purchased property on the west side of town by the Community Transit garage in order to build storage units on the property. A rezone from highway commercial to general industrial was approved. The petition for a rezone from Dirk Weber was discussed. Weber wants to rezone some property south of the ballfield, east of Jake’s Auto from residential to general industrial for the purpose of building a storage building. A hearing for the matter is planned for June.
    Jack Clark from Ken’s grocery store was present to discuss an error in liquor tax reporting. Since mid-2022, Ken’s paid $7,000 more in liquor tax to the city than they should have given sales. Clark explained the error was on the store’s part due to a computer server issue. The council agreed to credit Ken’s with the overpaid amount going forward.
    Members of the ballfield board were present to discuss a grant that had recently been approved for the lighting project. Fredrickson noted that the city does not have funds to contribute the $144,000 in matching funds for the project this budget year. He noted that the grant is good through 2026 so it is a project that they can revisit next year. A discussion of who will clean ballpark bathrooms was also had since the pool cut down on employees and these were the people who cleaned at the ballpark. Other city employees will be contacted to see if they are interested in cleaning.
    The council discussed the purchase of a sewer vacuum that will help alleviate some of the sewer issues that have been experienced lately. The purchase of a vacuum at the cost of approximately $15,000 (with 3 payments of $5,936.91) was approved with no payments due until next April.    
    In other business, the council approved summer wages for Russ Marlow, Glenn Skonberg, Harold Brubakken, Nathan Lenius, BJ Richter, and Roger Furman. A special liquor license was approved for Snapper’s for the Buckhorn Rodeo Dance, planned on Main Street, June 29.
    The next council meeting will be Tuesday, June 4 at 6:30 p.m. (Note the change from the usual meeting date).