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BLUE EARTH-- At their meeting on Monday night, the Blue Earth City Council heard from city attorney David Frundt who requested permission from the council to move forward with drafting documents related to certain zoning projects.
"The first project I would like to request council approval for is a rezoning of certain properties which were annexed into the city during the Riverside Heights annexation," Frundt shared. "These properties are not part of Riverside Heights itself, but are located south of it on both sides of the highway up until Fairgrounds Road. Currently, all of those properties are zoned as Ag."
Frundt went on to explain that some of the properties would remain as zoned for Ag, but the intention of this project was to update the zoning to better match what each property was currently being utilized for.
"My second project request is to consider an adjustment to the front yard setback requirements for General Industrial (GI) zoning," Frundt continued. "Currently, the setback is set at 90 ft. However, the front yard setback for our Highway Business Light Industrial (HBLI) zones is only 30 ft., and I would like to propose adjusting the GI front yard setback zoning to be in line with the HBLI zones."
A couple of council members raised the question as to whether GI zoning could be removed entirely, and the existing GI zones be rezoned as HBLI instead.
"We don't have a ton of GI zoned properties in Blue Earth, but there is a distinction between those zoned for GI and the ones that are zoned for HBLI," mayor Rick Scholtes replied. "It's not a huge difference, and mostly comes down to the size of buildings allowed in each zone, but there is a reason the two are zoned differently, so I would rather leave that alone for the time being."
While no motions were made, the council granted Frundt permission to move ahead with both projects.
Other business discussed at the City Council meeting included:
-- City administrator Dawn Collins presented the council with the 2026 Municipal Pool report for review and discussion.
-- At the work session prior to the meeting, Blue Earth Area superintendent Mandy Fletcher presented the council with an informational slideshow on the upcoming Permanent School Fund ballot question, which will appear on the Nov. 3 general election ballot.
-- Collins presented the council with a proposal from ICS Consulting for a city-wide facilities assessment, which would include a building component and system review, facility energy usage assessment, and space needs analysis for all of the main city facilities for an estimated cost of $14,875. Following some discussion, a motion to go ahead with the ICS Consulting city-wide facilities assessment was made and seconded. The motion passed unanimously.
-- The first reading of an ordinance to amend the city code to allow administrative approval for simple lot combinations was held. Following this reading, a motion to set the public hearing for the ordinance on Monday, Oct. 19 at 5:05 p.m. was approved unanimously.
-- Mayor Scholtes proclaimed Oct. 4-10, 2026 as Fire Prevention Week in Blue Earth.