dennyjr

Hello, Our club has recently leased 40 acres of land near Waverly, MN. It is a rural area and the land is currently zoned for agriculture. The person from whom we leased the land previously allowed gravel to be taken from the land, so basically it is an old gravel pit. The closest houses to the field are approx. 1/4 mile from our field. We had talked to these people and they had no problem with us being there. We began leveling an area for our runway and put down some grass seed, and that is all we have done so far. One day someone driving by the field noticed some machinery and called the county to ask what we are doing there. The county then sent us a letter telling us to stop everything we are doing there immediately or we will be prosecuted. We have since scheduled a meeting with the county for May 20th.

I am now looking for information to use for our meeting regarding noise, environmental impact of R/C flying, and any other issues some of you may have faced when getting your field started up. Please let me know if you have any info that can help us.

Thank you very much!

Dennis

Minnetonka Aeromodelers
www.minnetonkaaeromodelers.org

Primodus

My Feedback: (56)

If you have a signed, legally binding lease in good standing, what grounds does the county have for prosecution of you or any of the other members of your club? Did they state charges?

J_R

Call Jay Mealy at AMA HQ. Part of his job is flying site assistance. (765) 287-1256 x270.

Fields are lost from lack of understanding of the process. Solicit help from the AMA before the first meeting, not after.

jongurley

My Feedback: (29)

I don't see how they have a right to mess with a privatly owned and leased piece of land..

Lightfoot

My Feedback: (1)

I don't see how the county officials can get involved unless they have a contract with the land owner to continue to haul gravel from the pit. If there is not such a contract, then the land owner will probably have to get involved. It will be up to the county officials to prove that the use of the land will have a detremental effect on the environment. Certainly the use as a club field could not come close to the impact that hauling gravel out has had.

SDR-Hammer

Many building jurisdictions want you to file for a grading permit before moving any soil. With the expansion of wetland protection in the past couple decade’s environmental impact from development has become a big deal. They just want to make sure your following the rules such as; not disturbing protected areas and burying trash. They may very likely require you to install silt fencing to keep bare soils from washing into protected areas.

May 20th that’s too far away you will miss some good opportunity to get the field in shape. I suggest being proactive and visit the building department and telling the clerk that you as a leaser of a property was doing some light grading and seeding, and understand that you might need a permit. The best way to deal with the building dept. is answer the questions asked and don’t provide more than what they ask for. All you are doing is leveling the ground and planting some seed. Period! Once they find you’re your not mining or grading to install a building they may very likely leave you alone since it’s zoned agricultural.

Just in case be prepaired with a site plan of the property outlining the area you are grading etc. The county or township should have areial photos on file that you can use to your benifit as well.

BasinBum

My Feedback: (2)

Listen to JR's advice and call the AMA BEFORE you do anything else. You could esily do more harm to your cause than good by going in with guns blazing. Get together with anyone involved with the club and make sure it is known who is in charge of the dealings and keep the rest from contacting officials on their own.

Goverment officials , for the most part, want to put in their 8 hours and go home without a lot of headache or controversy. If your field becomes a PITA it is much easier to put the kabash on it than to try and pacify the other citizens. They will always take the path of least resistance so having contact from several unorganized pissed off modelers will not help your cause.

Mike Bogh

My Feedback: (14)

Jump through every hoop with a smile and a understanding attitude.
Gracious goes along way in knocking down doors that may be stuck...
Voice of experience..

Hossfly

While I have no experience with YOUR area, I do have experience with Michigan -- I own a lake summer place there in the UP -- where one has to get a permit, especially local, to go to the potty. Fortunately here in TX we don't have that Zoning crap to contend with.

OTOH, land that has an agriculture exemption requires some form of such. The taxes are much lower for ag. land and an apparent attempt to do something commercially on ag. land definitely gets the attention of city/county councils. It's always $$$. They do not want anyone using ag. land for other purposes. Drop by the county appraiser's office and check on what the requirements are for ag. land and recreational use land.

You will probably have to get the land-owner to apply for those exemptions if you need a variance.

In MI I found it not a big problem if I made up a decent folder with plans and pictures and estimates for improvements to get the *Great Powers* to OK my projects, especially since they knew the tax appraisal was going to increase. [:'(]

My next suggestion is to BUY the property, after you know you can get the needed use permits from your county.

rc-sport

My Feedback: (12)

We are presently in works to use agriculture land for our flying sight but we are applying for a Conditional Use Permit before starting the work.

scottrc

You left out some information, like why did they tell you to halt work? I agree with the others, the land may have tax and environmental shelters attached to it. It may be in CRP as well which in that case, you cannot be planting grass seed. Check with the landowner and with the county assessors office to find out. If it is, then the land CANNOT be improved in any way throughout the term of shelter, abide, this can be changed but it will cost the landowner. Being in Minnesota, the land may be in a Federal Wetlands Reclaimation block as well. You can own the property, but cannot even kick a rock or cut a blade of grass if it is in a reclaimation zone until all the appropriate channels have been accessed for approval.

However, most county's are buggers for building permits because they make money off both the fee, and taxes for the improvements, so most likely you just pissed them off for not getting the permit.
If this is just the issue, have the site plan, the contract for lease from the landowner, a reclaimation plan, and your checkbook ready when meeting with the commissioners. Also, come up with some "politcal" value for the commission to grant you the permit.
And smile, say "yes sir" and "yes maam", but be persistant. BB gave some sound advice: DESIGNATE A BOARD OF THE CLUBS BEST DIPLOMATS TO DO THE TALKS, THREATEN CLUB EXPULSION TO ANYBODY WHO CONTACTS THE COUNTY ON THEIR OWN, THIS KIND OF BEHAVIOR WILL KILL NEGOTIATIONS AND WILL LOSE THE FIELD.

Live Wire

Check your zoning, the big fathers have the right to tell you what you can put and where you can not put you *****
We have the right to vote on what is and what isn't. We can vote and change what we don't like . But nothing happens till it gets in our way , then we wonder why we didn't get involved. If you are or if you are not old enough to vote make sure you know your rites!
FOR Content!