Rib Lake wants property owners to fill vacant retail spaces

The village of Rib Lake wants its retail spaces filled and is considering a new ordinance to push retail property owners to be more aggressive in marketing their properties.

Due to the increased number of empty buildings, the village generated a proposed ordinance for the purpose of keeping up on the safety requirements and maintenance of these vacant buildings for public safety.

At the July 13 village board meeting, village clerk Kristin Lueck said “I had one individual who had called me and asked if I knew of any buildings that were available to rent on Main St. [McComb Ave.] so I gave her a list of all the buildings and who owns them along with their phone numbers. She had called all those numbers and no one would rent to her.”

“How are we supposed to revitalize our downtown when no one is willing to rent to anyone?” said trustee Russ Bullis.

The purpose of the proposed ordinance is to require owners of vacant commercial buildings within the village to register with the Village of Rib Lake and to maintain these buildings for public safety.

If you are a property owner to any buildings within the General Commercial District (C-1), Highway Commercial District (C-2), Light Industrial District (I-1), or Heavy Industrial District (I-2) that is or has become vacant you will need to file a registration with the Village Clerk, on forms provided within 30 days.

This registration won’t be in effect until the first of the year, however it is the responsibility of the property owner to register their building with the village if any of the commercial units with the building are vacant. There is no fee for initial registration of a vacant building. Every six months the registration will have to be renewed as long as the building remains vacant and shall pay a registration fee of $250 for each registered commercial unit.

Any property owner that fails to register or re-register a vacant building as required shall forfeit not less than $500 nor more than $2,000 including court costs.

All funds collected through the Vacant Building Ordinance shall be spent on items that directly impact the commercial districts.

What qualifies as a vacant building? A vacant building is any building that is on any said districts above that are abandoned, unoccupied, empty or has a trial business that is not open to the public more than 8 days a month (a day qualifies as no less than 4 hours of operation that a business is open within a 24 hour period).

Upon acceptance of registration, the building must be inspected by the village inspector at least once every six months. If a violation is discovered, the owner of the property will be given a date to correct the violation and a re-inspection will be re-scheduled. If the violation is not corrected on the re-scheduled visit, a $250 fee will be charged for further re-inspections.

If the inspector is unable to gain access to the structure for the inspection at the time scheduled, an $85 fee will be imposed on the property owner.

Trustee Rocky Jones said “I feel like this is two separate things, the inspection is only to make sure the building is up to code, it has nothing to do with registration.”

Board members will bring the proposed ordinance back next month after building inspector Bob Christensen has looked it over and has been able to make changes to it if needed.

True Value Expansion

Rib Lake’s True Value hardware store has been a part of the town for several years.

Owners Aaron, Scott and Steve Schubert are looking to expand their store towards the east. The village plans to sell 22,600 sq. ft. to the Rib Lake True Value to allow them to expand. This project is still in its early stages and won’t be completed for some time however the land was rezoned from residential land to general commercial land.

Security cameras

“It’s a lot of money for an un-budgeted item.”

That’s what Village President Bill Schreiner said about the security cameras being installed on Main St. in Rib Lake.

Police Chief Derek Beckstrand said “If we were to go with wireless cameras, it would cost the village just over $10,000. If 360 degree wireless cameras were to be installed, it would be another $2,000 more than that.”

Knowing that the village doesn’t have the funds for this project due to the already long list of projects planned, the board found it hard to come to an agreement on the purchase of these cameras.

Wired cameras run from $3,000-$5,000 to install and the conduit for the wire would have to be dug under the already poured curb and gutter that was just installed two weeks prior.

The board agreed to table the issue until the August meeting.

Water Rates

Rib Lake residents could see an almost $40 increase in their water rates. In order to keep on track with the water tower project being completed by 2025, the village will attempt to apply for a $300,000 grant in order to use their $90,000 in Covid relief money.

In other business:

_ Picnic Licenses for Ice Age Days by the Lions Club, Fish & Game, and the American Legion were approved by the board.

_ Temporary operator licenses to sell beer at Ice Age Days for Lester Fliehs, Gerald Thieme, Jerrett Knutson, Terry Pocock, Luanne Yanko, Kyle Patrick, Todd LaBrec, Matt Annala, Gary Polacek, Robert Carpenter, John Hein, Ted Eisner, Paul Dums, and Rocky Jones were approved.

_ McComb Ave. and Landall Ave. will remain closed for the duration of Ice Age Days; 2nd St. from Railroad St. to Church St. will be closed from one hour prior to the parade to one hour after the parade on Sunday.

_ Purchases by the Rib Lake Police Department were approved for grant reimbursement in the amount of $7,000.

_ Copying and faxing fees done by the Village will increase to $1/page.

_ Deb Gojmerac is Library Board President; Sara Robisch is Vice President of the Library Board.

The new carpet in the library will be installed after Ice Age Days.