MINSTER – Minster Village Council approved the first reading of an ordinance allowing commercial zoning of a plot at state Route 66 and Seventh Avenue for a proposed new O’Reilly’s Auto Parts after answering questions from eight village residents. The meeting was held on Dec. 1.

Residents Marie Olberding and Kim and Doug Hosteff both expressed frustration over how the zoning process had gone this far without them being aware of decisions being made.

All expressed concerns over how development of the store would affect the safety of the many school children using that intersection, as well as how traffic flow would be impacted.

Olberding, who lives along Seventh and Lincoln street, said she had only learned about the development of the lot about a week and a half ago.

Village Administrator Don Harrod and council member Nicole Clune explained the process, with written notices sent to the owners of adjacent properties and notices placed in the newspapers. Olberding said she did not read newspapers and requested that the information be posted on the Village website, which was agreed to by Harrod. She said the use of social media outlets like Twitter to notify residents would be more in keeping with the times.

Doug Hosteff questioned the way the drives for the O’Reilly’s would be positioned to keep cars from using the area as a cut through and to control how vehicles pull on to State Route 66. Harrod explained he had seen preliminary documents that would include traffic entering one way and exiting another. Harrod also assured the visitors that sidewalks and other safety features would be included.

The property in question, is part of an 18 acre tract located northeast of the village, that was annexed to the village last summer. The village’s Planning Commission, of which Clune is a member, then reviewed the property and recommended the three acres next the road be zoned commercial while the balance along Seventh avenue be zoned residential.

Tuesday’s action was the first step in approving the commercial zoning of the 1.721 acres proposed for the automotive parts store. Harrod explained that once approved, the business would have to submit plans that fit the regulations of the Village.

In other action, the council approved an emergency action to replace a sanitary sewer that runs under state Route 66.

Harrod said crews encountered a deteriorating line that runs from the east side of State Route 66 to the west side while videoing the sanitary sewer lines under 7th street. Harrod said immediate repair action was needed because a large void, as much as three feet wide deep, had developed around the collapsing line. Council approved paying Shinn Brothers up to $54,000 to replace the eight inch line. The work is expected to begin Monday and Harrod said the goal to keep St. Rt 66 partially open during the construction.

Harrod also reported that the village will be welcoming Santa Claus to the Gazebo on Saturday, Dec. 1244th. He said Santa will arrive by fire truck and will be on the Gazebo from noon to 1 pm where he will wave to all the kids as they drive by in their cars.

The village administrator also said that a few weeks ago a water leak at the intersection of Third and Cleveland Streets had caused the street to heave. He said Buehler Asphalt come back into the village to resurface this area.

Also, the last day of scheduled leaf pick-up was Nov. 3. He said crews will make a couple of passes through the village this week to make sure that theyhave collected everything. After this week, residents will need to dispose of any leaves at the compost facility.

Also Harrod said work on the second phase of the solar field is nearly complete. They are waiting for the transformers which are expected to be delivered the week of the 14th. Harrod said it was expected the new solar field would be in operation by the end of the year.

In other action, council approved the first reading of an ordinance adopting 2021 interim appropriations of $5,155,327.40. It was explained that this represented about ¼ of the total annual village budget.

They also approved a request to pay $29,250 for a KVA transformer which will be kept in storage in case a village transformer fail.