Grand Marais city councilors approved on first reading an amendment that will allow accessory residential use in portions of the Cedar Grove Business Park, but the unanimous vote did not come without a thorough discussion of the matter.
Council’s July 8 vote came at the recommendation of the planning commission, which voted a week earlier to allow owner residential occupancy in designated sections of the Business Development Area. The Cook County-Grand Marais Economic Development Authority, which owns the Cedar Grove Business Park parcel, had requested the zoning change in order to facilitate sales of the lots. To date, only five of the 37 lots have been sold since marketing efforts began in 2007.
However, there are two significant stipulations in the proposed amendment. The first limits the area where residential use is allowable to Block 5, Lots 3-8 on the western end of the business park. The second condition states that the occupants must own or in some way be affiliated with the attached business.
In addition, the proposed amendment requires that the housing units be located on a second story or attached to the side of the building containing a permitted principal commercial or light industrial use; a separate entryway for the residence must be provided; one parking space must be provided for the residence in addition to any other required spaces; and the land use permit application must explicitly state the proposed light industrial or commercial use of the building, to which permit approval will be limited unless and until the city approves a change of use.
Councilor and planning commission member Tim Kennedy recapped the proposal and planning commission discussion, noting that there was consensus among board members not to open the whole business park to residential use. “We won’t know how it will work until somebody proposes something….that’s why we limited it,” he said.
Councilor Tracy Benson raised the issue of safety in the business area, a matter which Kennedy said also concerned the planning commission.
Benson said there could be safety issues involving truck and other traffic if and when additional lots are sold and developed. The road in the business park is not designed for kids riding bikes and scooters, nor was the business park in general built with pedestrians and other commuters in mind, she said. “There are places in town for residential uses,” said Benson, adding that the BDA was set aside and is supposed to be for business-light industrial use. “I don’t know who will want to move in there [business park],” she said.
But councilor and EDA board member Anton Moody replied that the business park concept as is “is not working now,” and said the accessory residential use allowance is something the EDA board wishes to pursue in an effort to revive lot sales. “It’s an idea,” he said. “What would it do to our economy if every lot sold?”
Kennedy noted that although residential use was not included in Cedar Grove’s original design, circumstances and the economy change over time. “Three businesses in 10 years is maybe not what we anticipated when it was set up,” he said. “We owe it to those who asked to see if this will work.”
City Administrator Mike Roth said the city would need to find a way to accommodate pedestrians if the situation calls for it, and said, “We do have options if it comes up.” Those options include the design and addition of sidewalks and/or bike trails and alteration of the road to slow traffic and channel trucks and other vehicles away from the residential areas.
The latter design feature has already been considered and partially acted on, said Moody, with the designation that owner occupied residences be restricted to the western portion of the business park (near the church) in a section which isn’t likely to see a lot of density or high volume of truck traffic.
“It’s up to us to make sure it’s safe if this happens,” commented Mayor Jay Arrowsmith DeCoux. “But this doesn’t seem like a super-risky way to proceed.”
The second reading of the zoning amendment will take place at council’s next meeting and with approval, the new regulations will take effect.
In other business:
. Several residents addressed council during the open forum portion of the meeting, most of them speaking in favor of another zoning change, this one to allow vacation rentals in areas zoned residential. The practice is not now permitted in residential districts, but is becoming more prevalent in areas elsewhere in the city where it is allowed. The planning commission and city council recently voted to reaffirm those restrictions and directed Roth to notify those operating vacation rentals in violation of the ordinance to halt the practice, an action which prompted the requests for a change in the zoning ordinance.
After hearing the public’s comments, councilors voted to send the issue back to the planning commission for further study and recommendations for possible ordinance modifications. Roth cautioned that it “will be a while” until the complicated matter is resolved, but in the meantime, said the mayor, “the city isn’t going to demand that anybody turn away their guests.”
. On the recommendation of Parks Manager Dave Tersteeg, council hired Aaron Poznanovic as the city’s new parks facilities manager. Nine applications were reviewed.
. On the planning commission’s recommendation, council approved a shoreline variance request allowing George Wilkes of the Angry Trout Café to construct a steel-framed fabric awning over the existing deck to protect the outdoor seating area adjacent to Lake Superior; and a conditional use permit was granted to Todd Miller allowing construction and operation of a three-unit small-scale resort on his Fourth Avenue West property in the Commercial-Residential Mixed Use district.
. Bob Pranis of the Cook County Broadband Commission was given the go-ahead to use the vacant visitor’s center space in City Hall as a co-working facility for business owners who want to work remotely and need access to computer stations. Pranis requested use of space as the city’s in-kind contribution to a co-working pilot project funded through a $25,000 Blandin Foundation grant, which the commission will now apply for.
. Roth gave a presentation and timetable on the 2016 budget process, and a work session was set for a more in-depth discussion. A preliminary budget and levy must be set in September, with a final version being approved by year’s end.
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