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BACKUS-Cass County Board took first steps Tuesday toward adopting a local Buffer Law Ordinance to manage vegetative buffers along the edge of farm fields, which abut waterways.

Cass County Soil and Water Conservation District Board approved the proposed ordinance at an Oct. 6 meeting.

The county board now referred the proposed ordinance for a 30-day public comment period to be followed by a public hearing before the county's planning commission. If the planning commission approves it, the ordinance would come back to the county board for final adoption.

The proposed ordinance generally follows a sample ordinance provided by Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources.

The county's proposed ordinance does not provide for administrative fees like the state's sample does.

"We prefer to try to work with landowners to try to help them comply," Environmental Services Department Director John Ringle said, adding, "We don't think we should charge for that."

If there is an extreme case where someone totally refuses to comply, the county's ordinance does provide for a referral to district court as a misdemeanor offense, where the court would set any fines.

The proposed Cass ordinance follows state law, requiring a permanent, perennial vegetative buffer between tilled farmland and waterways. Depending upon where land is located on a county map, the required buffer must be either 50 feet average, with a 30-foot minimum or be 16.5 feet wide.

Measurement is from the normal water level of the water body. It cannot be used for cultivation farming.

Ringle said his employees have begun to look at farms from the southern edge of the county, moving north. So far, he said, he has not found any farms out of compliance. He expects few if any will be, he said.

The county board also referred to the planning commission for public hearing changes to the county land use ordinance, which would set a procedure for reclassifying any portion of the county's land use map.

Following the planning commission public hearing, that change also would return to the county board for final approval.

Already implementing this proposed change, the planning commission did host a public hearing Oct. 9 and approved a request to rezone property along County Highway 77 from Rural Residential 2.5 to Commercial 2 for the purpose of constructing and selling commercial storage units.

The planning commission, after hearing only one comment from Fairview Township not objecting to the change, approved the proposed change unanimously. Tuesday, the county board gave final approval to that re-classification.

Ringle reported zoning activity through September this year shows an increase of 190 planning and zoning applications compared with 2016 (a 17.66 percent increase from 1,266 this year, compared with 1,076 in 2016).

There were 955 applications for new buildings and septic systems, up 110 from the 844 in 2016. Variances rose to 76 in 2017, up from 64 in 2016. Conditional uses increased from 15 to 16 this year. Shoreland alterations increased from 153 in 2016 to 219 in 2017.

There were no minor subdivisions in 2016, but two this year. There was one plat approved last year, but none so far this year.

Crooked Lake Township by Outing had the most permits issued for new buildings and septic systems with 26, followed by Shingobee (Walker area) and Woodrow (Longville-Hackensack area) with 25 each and Powers (Backus area) and Sylvan (Pillager area) with 20 each.

Ringle reported a building at the county transfer station north of Pine River needs repairs, but the extent cannot be known until concrete walls have been removed to inspect the foundation.

The county board asked Ringle to return with comparable bids at the next board meeting, because one of two bidders to remove the walls also included a bid to replace them. The other only bid removal.

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