Grand Marais Planning Commission recommends change to downtown lodging rules

After several months of gathering information, the Grand Marais Planning Commission met at city hall on Tuesday, August 21 to again consider whether or not lodging should be allowed on the first floor of the city’s downtown waterfront area. It appears the answer may soon be no.

Under the existing city ordinance, lodging on the first floor of a business in the “core downtown waterfront district” is allowed. However, after speaking with business owners in that district and seeking feedback in a variety of ways, the planning commission decided it should change the language to exclude lodging as a permitted use on the first floor.

There had been some discussion about allowing first floor lodging if the property owner brought forward a plan for the space and requested a conditional use permit. However, that language did not make it to the final ordinance revision suggestion.

Planning commission members agreed there was more refining of the ordinance to be done, but ultimately agreed that the ordinance change restricting lodging on the first floor should be made.

The matter is not completely settled. The planning commission recommendation now goes to the Grand Marais City Council for approval. It takes two readings of an ordinance before a language change is adopted, so members of the public will have two more chances to weigh in on this if they wish.

The next city council meeting is Wednesday, August 29 at 6:30 p.m.