County supervisors field complaints about conditional use permit system

Winneshiek County supervisors on Monday approved two applications for conditional use permits, but in the process they also fielded complaints about the fairness of the current system.

Questions last year about Chimney Rock Campground failing to get a conditional use permit authorizing a concert at the campground led the county to take legal action against Chimney Rock Campground owner Deb Keefe.  County supervisors also hired a consulting firm to rewrite the county's zoning ordinance, which it is in the process of doing.

In the meantime, Hutchinson Campground owner Dixie Hutchinson applied for a conditional use permit for a benefit event at her campground June 15th.  That permit was approved Monday.

Seed Savers Exchange also applied for a conditional use permit, but was granted a permit that covered multiple events over a two year period, with a provision for renewal..

That led Keefe, who attended Monday's meeting, to ask where in the current county zoning ordinance it says you can cover multiple events with one conditional use permit.  Hutchinson agreed that she would have asked for a two year permit if she had known that was an option, saying "I just want it equal."  She also questioned why a non-profit event designed to raise money for a cancer victim had to pay the same $200 fee as a commercial business would pay.

County Board Chair John Logsdon sympathized with Hutchinson and promised "There will be changes made."  Logsdon said each one of the five supervisors wanted to waive the conditional use permit fee for Hutchinson's cancer fundraiser, but were told not to by their lawyers.

Supervisors offered Hutchinson the option of amending her application to cover two years--but that would have required withdrawing her present application, paying a second $200 fee and going through the review process by the county's Planning & Zoning Commission a second time.

Keefe told supervisors the present system "Just isn't fair."

Supervisor Dean Thompson asked to put the issue of fees on the agenda for next Monday's county board meeting.