WILLMAR -- Three annexations, seven new subdivisions and work on a vision for the downtown area are a few of the developments that will be highlighted in the Willmar Planning Commission's annual report to the City Council.
Commissioners reviewed a draft of the cover letter to accompany the report during a brief meeting Wednesday at the City Office Building.
City Planner Megan Sauer included a listing of the commission's activities in the letter. The full report will include more detailed information about the Planning Department's activities in 2006, she said.
During 2006, the commissioners handled a long list of things, including annexations, plans for subdivisions, 24 plan reviews and discussions of commercial building additions, home occupations and neighborhood nuisances.
A new McDonald's was one of the major projects. Sauer had not included the commission's series of meetings with the Design Team for downtown Willmar, but commissioners asked her to include that in a final draft.
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Sauer listed issues that could be expected to come up in 2007 -- commercial/retail developing in southeastern Willmar, updating the subdivision ordinance, planning the development of the old airport site, and trail and park planning.
"2007 is guaranteed to bring several development projects that will keep the commissioners busy," she wrote. "As the city grows, there will naturally be contentious land use issues in the process."
The commission on Wednesday also approved a preliminary plat for the lot at 1418 Willmar Ave. S.W. The building on the lot is a side-by-side duplex built on a single lot. The owner asked the city to re-plat into two lots, with the property line running down the middle, so that the halves of the duplex could be sold as twin homes, Sauer said.
The common wall between the units does not meet current standards for fire protection, but it did meet the standards in place at the time it was built, so it is legal as is, Sauer said. The property has one water line and one sewer line, but each unit has a separate meter.
The staff recommended, and the commissioners agreed, that agreements covering exterior maintenance, the water/service lines and the common wall be recorded with the final plat. Recording those agreements assures that future property owners will be made aware of those special conditions, she said.
Commission members Jeff Nagel and Ken Warner attended their last meeting, as their terms on the commission are expiring.
Warner urged the remaining commissioners to consider rezoning property in the industrial park to protect the aesthetics of that entrance into the community. Another issue to watch will be the future of the large empty building left behind when Wal-Mart opens its new Supercenter late next year.
"You guys have a lot of fun coming, because the city's going to keep growing," Warner said.
