06/12/2002 P&Z Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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• • EXHIBIT #_5_ Prospective Plans and thoughts from Bill & Jean Walton of 8140 20th Avenue regarding their new farm home We have been in the business of encouraging the interaction of people with animals for quite some time. Please read the accompanying copies of newspaper articles and check out our web site at www.waltons - hollow.com to get a better understanding of what we do. The demand for the services we provide seems to grow at an increasingly rapid rate as a result of a number of factors. Farmland is being replaced with housing development; farms that survive are forced to become large "factory" farms. The old fashioned small family farm like the farms my wife and I grew up on is nearing extinction. I am constantly amazed by the requests we get from what I had considered as farm country, communities such as Kenyon and Sauk Centre, Minnesota and Colfax, Wisconsin. A generation or so ago nearly everyone had access to a farm through a relative or friend who still farmed some. Now children have to be taken to the state fair or the state zoo to see farm animals or be content with what they can learn from books and TV. Some will also hear about the "good old days" on the farm from a grandparent. We will continue taking our animals out to various events throughout the metro area as we have been doing. However, after the word got around regarding our pending move to a much larger farm, we have received numerous inquiries about the possibility of people coming to us, also. The people that we foresee coming to our farm are groups from churches, schools, day care centers, senior and youth centers, scout troops, 4H clubs, etc. We have had some experience with people coming to our farm at our previous place and learned that it is not something to take on without a lot of thought and planning. But one can spend so much time thinking and planning that little gets done. We want to proceed slowly on this and have already discouraged some people, such as the fellow who wanted to schedule sleigh rides for his wife's retirement party, which seemed reasonable until he asked about the availability of a "party room" and catered food as he was expecting 350 to 400 guests. I told him to call me back in July when we'd have a better idea of what facilities we'd have, what size groups we would handle, and what we'd charge IF we did decide to accommodate him. Our new farm is conveniently located on 20th avenue (Anoka Co. Rd 21) just west ofI35E about 3 miles north of 14 and about the same distance south of 97 & 23. We can watch traffic on both I3 5E and I35W from our house. Presently the only permanent buildings on the site are the new 3 bedroom rambler home that we moved in to February 1s` and the new 90' x 96' pole barn that we started using in mid September. There are also several small portable structures used for animal shelter and storage on site. About a mile of new fencing has been installed both on the perimeter and the interior of the majority of the property as shown on the accompanying site map. The fencing in the area of the front gates and the pens on the south side of the barn is 5' high chain link with a top rail. Most of the fencing is 4' high chain link topped with a 11/2" wide white tape at 5' high. The white tape is electrified in most locations; however, along the driveway and parking areas it will probably be for looks only to avoid shocking the curious innocent.