Goodhue County reconsiders variance after unpermitted driveway built on County Road 42

Goodhue County commissioners on Oct. 21 reconsidered a previously granted variance for a second driveway on County Road 42 after staff reported the driveway was constructed before a permit was issued and new information emerged about a potential business on the parcel.

Public works staff told the board the parcel (no. 470120100) in Sambrooke Township originally applied for a second access on June 24 and that a variance was granted by the board on Sept. 16 by a 4-1 vote. Staff said the driveway was later found to have been built before an approved permit was issued and that a motion to reconsider the variance was carried at the Oct. 7 meeting, bringing the matter back for today’s discussion.

The county described specific construction and permit issues discovered during a staff site visit on Oct. 14: discrepancies in culvert size and type, a required driveway profile that slopes away from the road and is about 0.5 foot lower than the shoulder at 20 feet from the shoulder, and a surfacing requirement of class 5 aggregate. Staff cited the Goodhue County Access Management Control Ordinance and noted that the ordinance lists six conditions that must all be met for a variance to be granted.

"All 6 listed circumstances, according to the ordinance, need to exist for a variance to be granted," the county’s staff representative said. The board heard from the applicant, Josh Boettcher, who said the driveway was intended initially for agricultural access and that a business opportunity developed after he lost a job Aug. 1. "This business opportunity didn't start until after I started my driveway process," Boettcher told the board. He said he is willing to meet permit requirements and construct the driveway to county specifications but expressed concern about delays that could leave the driveway unusable before harvest.

Land-use staff explained how home-based business tiers are classified under the county zoning ordinance: tiers are evaluated by square footage and by the number of employees (employees are people who do not live on-site). A Tier 3 home-based business can allow up to 10 employees and would trigger review of employee and delivery traffic during a conditional-use review. Commissioners said the existence of a business changes the facts the board considered when it first approved the variance and argued that traffic and safety implications should be examined through the conditional-use process.

Board members and staff discussed alternatives to a variance, including relocating the existing home access farther west to meet the county’s spacing standard (staff cited the 550-foot spacing used to ensure stopping and sight distances). The applicant said moving the driveway would add expense, require additional culvert work on private property and reduce farmland. A nearby resident told the board that moving the lower driveway could worsen sight lines at that location.

A county legal adviser outlined the board’s options: take no action (in which case the prior variance stands), rescind the prior approval (which would prevent a permit from being issued), or allow the conditional-use and permitting process to proceed so that the driveway construction defects and business impacts can be addressed and conditions can be imposed if appropriate. Commissioners discussed conditioning any final approval on bringing the new access up to county standards and on possible relocation of the other access as part of a conditional-use approval.

No motion to rescind the previously granted variance was adopted during the Oct. 21 meeting. Commissioners directed staff to proceed with land-use and permitting reviews (the applicant’s conditional-use review is scheduled for Nov. 17 before the Planning Advisory Commission) and instructed public works to require corrections so the driveway meets county specifications if a permit is issued. The board discussed that a conditional-use approval could include a condition requiring relocation of the other access, but that decision would be part of the later land-use process.

What happened next: the board did not reverse its prior variance at this meeting. Staff will continue permit review, the Planning Advisory Commission will consider the conditional-use application on Nov. 17, and any conditions about driveway location or required remediation would be resolved through those processes.