MITCHELL — A Mitchell real estate development company’s request to plant land in a growing development on the north side of Mitchell drew opposition from a nearby business owner Monday over drainage regulations he said would they are not being followed.
During Monday’s Planning and Zoning Commission meeting, Mike Bathke, a Mitchell resident who owns Big Dog Concrete near the area where the proposed platform is located, said the area along the Commerce Street development has been experiencing drainage problems in recent years due to alleged violations of the city’s drainage regulations and the number of buildings being built.
CJM Consulting, a local real estate development company, is the entity requesting the plot of land to be paved along Calle Comercio for a building under construction. The proposed lot where construction has begun on a building is located across the street from Fastenal, located near the turnoff for Highway 37.
“This has been an ongoing dispute. The city says they follow the master plan, but they don’t. They filled the entire drainage ditch,” Bathke said of the real estate company. “The trench is supposed to be 20 feet wide and in a 2-foot culvert. When I drove up there yesterday, it was littered with construction debris.”
After hearing Bathke’s concerns about the drainage, the Planning and Zoning Commission voted unanimously to postpone the request to further investigate the dispute.
“It all sounds a little crazy to me,” commission member Larry Jirsa said of the sewer debacle.
According to developer Mark Jenniges, the city has halted the issuance of building permits in the area in question until a drainage survey was conducted. The development surrounding the land houses businesses, storage facilities, and twin homes.
After the city had SPN and Associates, an engineering firm, survey the land and investigate drainage problems, it recommended developers widen the building’s drainage ditch to avoid drainage problems. Jenniges said the Public Works Department has approved the drainage survey, paving the way for construction to resume in the area.
“The solution was that they had to dig part of the trench along the bypass, and the state has approved that they can do that. If there’s a big rain event, it can flow north,” Jenniges said.
Bathke’s concrete business is located along the southern edge of the development where the deck is requested.
Bathke pointed to the culvert, which he says is 2 feet wide, as one of the main reasons he is experiencing drainage problems at his concrete business. He said the culvert is too small to handle the water the area receives and should be 22 feet wide as part of initial plans.
“Everything backs up because it doesn’t have the volume. It’s supposed to be 22 feet wide, but it’s not 22 feet,” Bathke said.
Based on the site survey conducted by SPN and Associates, it is shown that there is supposed to be a 22 foot wide drainage easement along the site that is proposed to be planned.
Additionally, Bathke said a building has been built on the drainage easement where the sewer sits. Commission member Jacob Sonne said easement widths are not necessarily what drainage ditch widths are supposed to be. However, Sonne indicated that a structure should not be built on top of a drainage easement.
“When Kyle Croce was here, we had a deal. The deal was that you couldn’t build anything south of that private road until the drainage issue was resolved,” Bathke said, noting that he has seen four to five buildings go up in the respective area since speaking with the former director of Public Works, Kyle. Croce about the drainage issues.
Jenniges said Public Works Director Joe Schroeder, who recently replaced Croce, was unable to attend Monday’s meeting.
CJM Consulting representatives did not discuss the rig and drainage concerns during Monday’s meeting.
Bathke is urging the Planning and Zoning Commission to visit the area and investigate his claims before voting on the platform at a future meeting.
“I have to protect my property and I’ve invested a lot of money in it,” Bathke said. “I don’t know how you can approve this if they haven’t followed the master plan. The city told me this is a personal dispute between neighbors, but I don’t approve of the drainage plans. I do not approve building permits.”
