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Commission recommends conditional use permit for rural recycling baler manufacturing site
Summary
The Planning Commission recommended approval of Randy Tarjeson's conditional use permit to operate a recycling baler manufacturing business in Fremont Township, imposing conditions for common ownership of adjacent parcels and runoff controls; staff and the Highway Department raised site safety and stormwater concerns that were addressed in findings.
The Winona County Planning Commission on April 16 recommended approval of a conditional use permit for a recycling baler manufacturing business to be located along County Road 33 in Fremont Township. Planner Olivia Stroinski presented the application, including a township letter of support from the Fremont Township Board and reviews from the Winona Soil & Water Conservation District and the County Highway Department. The commission amended Findings of Fact to address traffic, building scale and stormwater concerns before voting to recommend the CUP to the County Board.
The petition describes a low‑volume manufacturing operation that the petitioner said currently employs five people with plans to expand to ten. The Planning Commission noted expected deliveries of roughly "1–5 deliveries per day" and heard the County Highway Department Engineer's concerns that, as originally proposed, the site could create a hazard if work required crossing County State‑Aid Highway 33. The highway review was quoted in the record: "I have concerns that this CUP will create a manufacturing site bisected by County State‑Aid Highway 33, with equipment such as a forklift (or similar) and personnel occasionally going back and forth across the highway as a normal part of their workday. This will create a hazard..." The petitioner described mitigation steps including trimming vegetation and raising driveway elevations to improve visibility.
The commission voted unanimously to convert the request from an Interim Use Permit to a Conditional Use Permit and adopted modified findings and conditions. The recommendation includes maintaining common ownership of parcel numbers 03.000.1320 and 14.000.0831 so the business operations and primary residence remain connected, limiting business hours to those proposed in the application, and requiring on‑site measures to address runoff and erosion as recommended by Winona SWCD. The County Board will consider the recommendation on May 12, 2026.
