The Crookston Planning Commission met on Tuesday night in the City Hall council chambers and reviewed a rezoning and variance request from a local Crookston business.
The business searching for the rezoning and variance request to add an additional commercial building was Chico’s Transport, owned by Rosa, Lauro, and Robert Gutierrez, located at 442 Marin Avenue. Currently, the business does not have a sufficient storage space to place large trucks or to conduct oil changes, which causes problems in the cold winter months.“For the light maintenance like changing oil, which is frequently done,” said Crookston Building Official Greg Hefta, “This would be done in a warmer surrounding area in the front of the lot like they were previously doing.”
Chico’s Transport proposed that they be rezoned from an I-2 (light industrial zone) in lieu of R-2, which is a residential family housing zone. “The previous owner of the property authorized the switching of 1-2 to R-2,” said Hefta, “Based on another neighbor needing it for a residential house sale. Since this was an impacted person who bought the property and what they thought was a commercially used lot to a residential. They would not be able to have the addition without that change.”
The Planning Commission unanimously recommended the rezoning and variance requests for Chico’s Transport, which Hefta said is a win-win scenario for the city and the local business. “They (Chico’s Transport) received a property they can use and maintain,” said Hefta, “And the city got an expanded tax base, plus we lost a residence that probably needed to be demolished.”
This recommendation from the Planning Commission will be presented to the Crookston City Council during their next meeting on Monday, April 22, in the City Hall council chambers.
