Aminal Control

A service perhaps taken for granted is animal control.  In the old days, this was the Dog Catcher.  Some cities go without this service and expect police or interested citizens to deal with stray animals.  Most cities provide these services with a contractor that specializes in this activity. 

The City of Breezy Point uses Animal Control Enforcement Services.  This company is located in Brainerd.  They have worked with the city a good number of years and are familiar with the area.  The city is charged a monthly fee for their service.  If responding to a call the city is also charged mileage.  They do not patrol the city for strays but rather respond to calls for service.  The calls made in the past couple of years are:

          Total Animal Calls                       Responded to

2011            66                                            32

2012            41                                            25

2013*          27                                            9        *to date

Advantages in working with them are:

• Their services are very helpful in Dog Bite situations and Dangerous Dog notifications.

• They have the equipment and training to complete the tasks.

• There are OSHA issues that are of concern with Law Enforcement in capturing and transportation of animals.  (The police department will occasionally handle friendly dogs)

• If Law Enforcement is to be involved it ties up an officer who would have to drive to the animal shelter in Baxter and clean the squad car. 

The city council recently reviewed and approved their contract for service for the upcoming year.  The monthly fee is determined on a per capita basis.  For the upcoming year the cost of service is $1.10 per capita based on a population of 2388.  This was an increase of $0.10 per capita making the annual cost increase $280.80.  The annual cost for these services amounts to $2,626.80. 

The city is also subject to expenses if animals are sent to the pond.  If an owner picks up their animal they are subject to the fees imposed for that impoundment.  However if an animal is kenneled and euthanized those expenses are paid by the city. 

Dog licenses are issued by the city and are now a lifetime license for $10 per animal.  Having a license will help the owner and dog be reunited.  Please take the time and effort to license your dog. 

Special Events

The city recently approved a special event that will be held at Primetime on September 14^th.  This event will be an outside event and host 4 bands from 2 PM to 10 PM.  The city wishes them well with this first time outside event at that location.  

You might ask why the city would be involved in approving an event that is held on the property of a licensed establishment.  It would seem if they own the property they should, as a business; do what they feel best for them.  The answer really involves a few issues.  

An outside musical event, by its very nature, means they will have amplified sound. This business has neighbors who may be upset with the noise.  This is something out of the ordinary that they haven’t previously experienced.  Controlling the sound volume and the duration is of interest to the city as it affects surrounding properties.  The zoning ordinance does have limits in terms of volume.  If the volume exceeds a certain level it can be declared a nuisance.  

With any special event the goal for the sponsors is to attach as many people as possible.  Bringing more people means the potential for public safety issues increase.  First on the list of more people is parking.  Having adequate parking, where it doesn’t obstruct sight lines, lanes of traffic flow, or access for emergency vehicles is all important.  Addressing these issues before the fact is needed.  It becomes far too difficult to correct a problem of access after vehicles have been parked.  Emergency vehicles support emergency situations which the public has come to expect. 

Another issue that comes to play is that of a liquor license itself.  With the granting of a liquor license the holder of the license is given the authority to sell and allow consumption of alcoholic beverages within the establishment and areas contiguous to it.   If a license holder wants to hold an event on property that is not contiguous to his establishment he needs authority to expand the area for sale and consumption.  In certain situations this can be done administratively such as with a patio or deck adjacent to the building.  However when the property in question is not immediately contiguous it doesn’t meet the authority granted in the liquor license.  Special  authority is needed to use spaces outside of the normal authority granted with the liquor license.  

These situations and perhaps others are all reasons for looking at special events in a different fashion.  The city and the sponsor have the same goals in terms of a successful event.  The city has perhaps other goals in terms of providing for the health, safety and welfare of both residents and attendees.  The city has no intentions of being unreasonable but does have an obligation to address these concerns.  With this in mind the city should exercise some control in trying to mitigate those areas that spill over into the arena of public oversight.  

We're Ready for Solar Energy

There is the movement towards “Green” with energy and environmental issues.  One of these efforts produced by the Department of Energy was with a federal program called SunShot.  This program was largely educational in getting people to better understand solar energy and its benefits.  An off shoot of this program was a grant they funded to assist local units of government with issues relating to zoning and solar applications. 

The grant funding made available a consultant to assist local governments to address solar initiatives.  The assistance offered was at no cost to the city and the consultant in our case reviewed the existing code and proposed ordinance language for consideration.  Our code contained no definitions or setback requirements addressing this land use.  He also looked at the Comprehensive Plan for policy language that could be considered as well. 

The Breezy Point Zoning Ordinance did not address solar energy in any way.  A review was done which identified areas and language where changes to the code should be made.  In that analysis a number of questions posed by the consultant were considered by the Planning Commission.  Once an understanding was reached about their desires, proposed language was drafted to meet those goals.  The Planning Commission reviewed the final language and called for a public hearing to consider the changes.  Also under consideration was a draft policy statement to address solar energy for inclusion in the Comprehensive Plan. 

The recommendations of the Planning Commission were reviewed by the City Council.   They approved an ordinance adopting changes to the Zoning Ordinance that address land use issues related to solar energy.  The policy statement for the Comprehensive Plan regarding solar energy was also approved.  

The city has now defined what is allowable for this type of use and is ready to deal with it.    We're hopeful there is some interest in accomplishing solar energy initiatives in the near future.