City tackles full agenda at May 30 meeting

The last meeting of May for the Grand Marais City Council was one of its longest meetings for quite some time, lasting nearly three hours. WTIP's Rhonda Silence spoke with Grand Marais Mayor Jay Arrowsmith DeCoux after the meeting -- click below to hear that conversation. 

Comments on Dark Skies
Five citizens came forward to talk to the council during the public comment period at the start of the meeting on Wednesday, May 29. Three citizens—Denny Fitzpatrick, Jennifer Schultz, and Jean Grover all encouraged the city to take the action to become a designated Dark Sky city. Fitzpatrick and Schultz added their dismay about the lighting at North Shore Health.
Dark Skies came up again during council reports. Councilor Tim Kennedy, who serves on the Grand Marais Public Utilities Commission (PUC), said community member Bryan Hansel spoke to the PUC about the Dark Sky initiative. The PUC noted that some of the things that need to be done to become a Dark Sky city are not in the purview of the PUC. However, the PUC has been working to be more dark sky compliant. And the PUC voiced support for moving this conversation on to the city council.
City Administrator Mike Roth said this is something that should be addressed as the council takes a look at its ordinances and codes.

There was also discussion about the possibility of Lake Superior Helicopters operating at the August Fisherman’s Picnic. Check out the related WTIP story on that here.

Climate Action Plans
Shane Steele, the city’s Climate Change Coordinator, gave a presentation of the final draft of the city’s Climate Action Plan. He told the council that there were two major changes, the addition of “prioritization” and “implementation.”

Steele said these topics were added based on public feedback that appeared to feel that the plan was too ambitious. He said the long list of tactics now includes prioritization. And, an implementation section details just who will work on the various tactics, for example who would collect energy benchmarking data. Steele said providing that information to consumers can allow them to alter their usage.

There are still questions about the implementation. City Administrator Mike Roth said details such as how the city’s power provider, Southern Minnesota Municipal Power Agency would interact with the city.

Steele stressed that the plan is for 21 years and there will be significant changes in energy technology, so there are steps to be taken now and others in the future.

Councilor Kelly Swearingen noted that there were 252 responses to the online survey, totaling 67 pages to go through. She said she wasn’t comfortable yet that all of those questions had been answered.

Councilor Craig Schulte agreed and noted that there were responses from 113 Grand Marais Public Utility customers and 119 that were not.  He asked if the plan could consider the feedback from the city public utility users separately. Swearingen agreed that would be helpful.

City Administrator Mike Roth cautioned that councilors should not take the responses as a referendum. He said intent of the survey was to collect ideas on what should be included in the plan.

The council agreed to take a bit more time before approving the final draft. The council agreed to consider again at the June 26 meeting.

Trailer parking concerns
The council continued its discussion of trailers parked in the city’s residential areas. As asked by the city council, City Administrator Mike Roth distributed a draft cease and desist letter that could be sent to property owners.

Roth said in October 2018, the city had identified 22 trailers possibly in violation. The city sent out “friendly reminders” to those property owners, letting them know of the violation. He said many people have complied with the city’s ordinance. There are now 10 properties clearly in violation, with three new properties possibly in violation.

The council debated whether or not to send the letter, noting that there are things not covered in the ordinance. For example, Roth told the council, flatbed trailers and boats are not addressed.

Roth said the closer look at trailers raised the question of just what is deemed “the back yard.”

Roth shared photos of three properties, with one obviously in violation with an overly-crowded driveway and yard. The other two were technically in violation, however due to the arrangement of the lot, the trailers in question were not really in front of the house, but on the side.  Roth said there are gray areas.

He asked the council if it wanted to take some time to develop clear language in the ordinance regarding what is and isn’t allowed.

Councilors Kelly Swearingen and Tim Kennedy nodded and said clear, concise language is needed, especially if the city is going to ask law enforcement to enforce the ordinance.

Councilor Craig Schulte noted that this is a community that has a lot of campers. He said he agreed with the ordinance if there is a nuisance to neighbors, but said the language should be made more clear.

Mayor Arrowsmith DeCoux said if the city is going to choose to enforce the ordinance, it should have something that is enforceable.

Roth proposed that the city address property owners that are clearly in violation, but take this ordinance to the planning commission to draft a new ordinance. He said this is just one of the ordinances identified by the council as it begins its city code update.

City Hall/liquor store redevelopment
Council agreed to table discussion on this, but Councilor Swearingen said she wanted to let the public know this is very preliminary discussion. She said the city asked to hear from the development company to get ideas of what could be done to the site.

She stressed that no decisions had been made; it was more an educational exercise for the council.

Councilor Kennedy agreed that the purpose was to determine whether redevelopment of the site was viable. He said the city learned a lot and a lot more discussion is necessary.

In other business:
* Councilor Schulte, who serves on the Grand Marais Park Board, said Gunflint Hills Golf Course is open and things are going well.

* The council approved an event permit for a First Avenue Block Party on June 8. The council also approved temporary liquor permits for a Legion Beer Tent in Boulder Park on July 4-7 and for the Stars of the North Music Festival.

* Administrator Roth reminded councilors of the need to discuss alternate street parking at a future meeting.

* Finally, the council agreed to take part in a joint government meeting (with the county, school, Grand Portage and North Shore Health) on Tuesday, June 4 at 5:30 p.m. Roth asked the council if it also wanted to meet with the county earlier that day to discuss the city/county joint powers agreements, such as the YMCA and the library. The council agreed to meet at 4 p.m. on June 4, prior to the joint government meeting.
 
Here's WTIP's Rhonda Silence with Grand Marais Mayor Jay Arrowsmith DeCoux with more.