Council not to recommend industrial concept plan for 33.87-acre parcel; zoning and service issues cited

The New Richmond City Council declined to recommend that applicants proceed with subsequent development applications for a concept plan that proposed a 2.5-acre lot for an industrial building to be occupied by Antlers by Claus on a 33.87-acre parcel south of County Road K.

City staff described the filing as a concept plan to divide a 33.87-acre parcel into a 2.5-acre lot for a proposed industrial building and use the remaining acreage for a single-family home and conservation. Staff said the parcel’s future land use designation is medium–high-density residential and the site is zoned Z-2 Suburban District. “The proposed manufacturing and processing business is not consistent with the future land use map,” staff told the council. Staff advised that manufacturing and processing uses are only allowed in Z-7 Special Use Industrial and that the parcel would need to be rezoned or the zoning ordinance amended.

Staff also told the council the parcel was created by a certified survey map (CSM) approved in 2024 that included a condition requiring future development to be served by municipal water and sewer; private well and septic would not satisfy that CSM condition. The applicant’s concept plan proposed private well and septic. Staff said planning commission review resulted in a 3–3 vote and that concept plans do not themselves approve or deny future development but are intended to identify issues before substantial applicant expense.

Property owner Jerry Clausen addressed the council, described keeping most acreage in conservancy and said the proposed occupant would be a taxidermy and replica business with limited employees and low in/out traffic. Clausen said the site has natural buffers — a railroad and the Willow River — and that the use would be a quiet operation. Council members raised long-term concerns about spot zoning, the fact that zoning “runs with the property,” and whether a covenant could limit future industrial uses; staff and council members explained that zoning controls permitted future uses even if a covenant were proposed.

Several councilmembers said the parcel reads as an island with few neighbors and that Antlers by Claus is a valued, low-impact local business, but also warned that rezoning to industrial could allow other industrial uses in perpetuity. The planning commission’s split recommendation and the zoning incompatibility were central to the council’s decision.

A motion recorded in the meeting minutes directs that the council not recommend that the applicants proceed with subsequent development applications for the proposed concept plan; the motion passed on roll call.