Two Flandreau residents question why an eight-plex housing unit is being built without notifying neighbors.
Curtis and Jeff Weigel, father and son, brought their concern to the Flandreau City Council Sept. 3, saying the original plan for the property owned by Bruce Allen called for a duplex. The larger building going up is too big for the property and wouldn’t have space for the required off-street parking, the two said.
“I guess a lot of neighbors don’t really know what’s going on,” Jeff Weigel said. His father lives near the property at Broad and Bates. “Why wasn’t there a new notification?”
City Administrator Jeff Pederson, who approved the building permit in May, told the Weigels he would have to consult the city lawyer and look into the issue, which could be put on the next meeting’s agenda. The essential point is whether there was any need to notify neighbors, he said.
Based on a 2015 permit, the property has had three duplexes moved in with reportedly plans for one more.
“What he is approved for is vastly different than what is going in there,” Jeff Weigel said.

The city will have to determine if any of the process was skipped, said Council President Dan Sutton. “I don’t think there was anything intentional or malice,” he said.
Two days after the meeting, Pederson notified council members that he had reviewed the application and had overlooked the requirement for a larger lot for an eight-plex. Allen, who is in the process of construction, intended to build the same size building as the duplex.
“It didn’t occur to me to look at the zoning ordinance,” Pederson said. “I missed that.”
The matter now will go to the zoning commission, he said. There is a possibility that Allen may need to apply for a variance after the fact or add additional space to the project, he said.
“The process is prescribed in the zoning ordinance. It was my lack of attentiveness to the zoning ordinance. I did not apply the zoning ordinance property,” Pederson said.
In other council issues,
•The council voted 4-2 to budget $3,000 to print the meeting minutes and other legal notices in The Booster. The council is not required to print the legals in the advertising product because it is not a legal newspaper. Staff proposed not paying for those ads because of a tight budget.
Alderman Don Whitman proposed putting the money back in the 2020 budget so more people can read what the council does. “For $3,000, I think it’s worth it,” he said. Sutton also spoke in favor of printing the ads.
Councilors Bob Pesall and Brad Bjerke voted against the expenditure. Mayor Mark Bonrud was not present.
The council discussed getting rid of a proposed street study that would prioritize how streets are maintained in order to afford the advertising. They decided to see how much a replacement dump truck will cost and midyear next year see if they can afford the study.
•The council voted to make a payment of $40,426 for construction on the tornado shelter at Henry and Prospect. The project is nearing completion.
• The council declared 58 transformers as surplus property and will put them out for bid. The transformers are no longer used because the city went underground with its electrical system. Some additional transformers were contaminated and cannot be sold.