Colfax to rezone salt shed lot to residential, sell by sealed bids

By LeAnn R. Ralph

COLFAX — The Colfax Village Board has approved rezoning the old salt shed lot on Evergreen Street to residential and selling it by sealed bid.

The parties interested in buying the lot have changed, and the commercial business is no longer interested because of the publicity generated by village residents opposed to the lot being used for a commercial purpose, said Lynn Niggemann, village administrator-clerk-treasurer, at the Colfax Village Board’s August 28 meeting.

Several village residents came to the July 10 village board meeting to say they had started a petition and that 100 village residents had signed the petition in favor of keeping the salt shed lot residential and not turning it into a commercial lot.

The lot is located in a residential area and is right next to Iverson Park.

The 1903 building on the lot was torn down this spring. The building had started out as a barn, was used as a county shop, and then became the property of the village in the 1970s and was used as a shop and then as storage for the salt-sand mixture put on slippery streets.

The lot was appraised at $20,000, and two parties are still interested in buying the lot, Niggemann said.

Village Trustee Keith Burcham asked if the lot was big enough for a house, and Niggemann responded in the affirmative.

The lot will be sold “as is” with the prior uses of the lot disclosed as being storage for salt-sand, as the village shop and as a county shop, Niggemann said.

As far as village officials know, the lot does not have any contamination, but the village also is not planning to do any testing of the soil, which is why the lot is being sold as-is, she said.

If someone were going to buy the lot to build a house, the village could put a contingency on the sale that the house must be completed within 12 months, Niggemann said.

“I do not know if it would sell for a house,” she noted.

The lot is currently zoned for public use, and when it is sold, the lot will require a rezone for a different use, Niggemann said.

Several village board members wondered if the fact that the lot is not currently zoned to a different use would make any potential buyers hesitant to put in a sealed bid since they would not know for certain whether the lot would, in fact, be rezoned.

“People want it to be residential, so the village should rezone it to residential,” said Village Trustee Carey  Davis.

Why would anyone want to buy it if the village does not — or will not — rezone it, Davis said.

The cost of a rezone would be about $120, Niggemann said.

The village “has foolishly spent more money than that before,” Davis said.

Uncertainty on the rezone could prompt potential bidders to submit a lower bid, said Village Trustee Dave Wolff.

The village board could rezone the lot first and then take sealed bids, said Gary Stene, village president.

The rezone procedure requires a public hearing notice 15 days in advance, Niggemann said.

The Colfax Village Board unanimously approved a motion to proceed with rezoning the old salt shed lot on Evergreen Street for residential.

The Colfax Village Board also unanimously approved a motion to sell the lot with sealed bids and approved a separate motion setting the minimum price at $15,000 in view of the lot’s appraisal at $20,000.

The earliest a zoning meeting could be held would be September 21, Niggemann said.

The deadline for the sealed bids is expected to be at the end of September or early October.

Rand Bates, director of public works, said that as far as he knows, the lot has never had any underground fuel storage tanks.

Village president

During the portion of the meeting devoted to communications from the village president, Stene reported village department heads had met at the former location of Area Nursing Home on High Street to assess the building’s suitability for municipal use.

Scott Gunnufson, former village president and also the owner of SG Home Design, attended the meeting as well and will work up some sketches for remodeling the nursing home building, he said.

After Gunnufson completes preliminary sketches, Ayres Associates will work up additional schematic designs, Stene said.

The village also will obtain cost estimates for remodeling the nursing home for municipal use, Stene said.

The Colfax Village Board met in closed session to discuss purchasing or acquiring public property August 21 and again August 23, although the meeting notices gave no indication of the village board’s purpose for going into closed session.

When the August 23 meeting convened into open session, it was announced “the Village of Colfax and the Colfax Health and Rehabilitation are in preliminary discussion to consider possible uses and/or transfer (of) the old nursing home property.” 

Other business

In other business, the Colfax Village Board:

• Approved a temporary Class “B”/ “Class B” retailers license for September 9 and September 10 for the Colfax Firefighters. The application for the picnic license included a request to waive the fee. Niggemann said she had never experienced someone asking for the picnic license fee of $10 to be waived, so she called the state to find out if it were possible to waive the fee. The person she talked to said the fee could be waived but that it was not recommended to waive it, Niggemann said.

• Approved bartender operator’s licenses for Tammy Briggs and Peggy Wallace, for the Colfax Softball Association, from August 28 to June 30, 2018.

• Approved donating $50 to the Colfax Kiwanis in support of the Colfax Twister Run September 9.

• Approved increasing the per capita fee for the Colfax Rescue Squad by 25 cents, from $16.17 per person in the area served by the Colfax Rescue Squad to $16.42 per person.

• Approved canceling the December 25 Colfax Village Board meeting. The village board meets regularly the second and fourth Monday of the month. The fourth Monday in December is Christmas Day this year.