Grand Marais city councilors had a brief but productive meeting on Wednesday, November 14, primarily following up on actions discussed and tentatively approved at the last meeting.
Council approved four Cook County Whole Foods Co-op licenses that deal with encroachment. The licenses are for the encroachment of a propane tank, foundation insulation, roof overhang, and loading dock into the right of way or utility easement. As directed at the October 31 meeting, city attorney Chris Hood prepared the licenses, and the co-op agreed to the terms.
The licenses are needed because the current co-op building is soon going to be torn down and a new, larger, more practical structure will be put up in its place. The co-op has temporarily moved its business into the former Howling Wolf building two miles west of Grand Marais on the lower side of Highway 61.
In new business, the council entertained a funding request for $2,000 from the Cook County Local Energy Project (CCLEP) that would be used to pay a portion of a 2013 part-time CCLEP coordinator. The half-time position would pay $21,000.
CCLEP has also requested $4,000 from Cook County, $2,000 from Lutheran Community Foundation and $13,000 from the Lloyd K. Johnson Foundation. The city of Grand Marais contributed $1,000 to help fund this position last year.
“I personally have some reservations about this. Not with the $2,000, but the mention of the biomass study. I’m concerned that with some positive action we will signal to people that we support the building of a large biomass heating facility and I personally don’t support that. If I had to vote right now, I would vote no. But what do you [councilors] think?” asked Mayor Larry “Bear” Carlson.
Mayor Carlson was referring to a CCLEP-sponsored study that is investigating whether or not it would be feasible to put in a biomass district heating system in Grand Marais.
If built, the plant would be used to heat large buildings like the school, hospital and law enforcement center, in addition to privately owned businesses or houses that would want to be connected.
Councilor Bob Spry said, “I think they [CCLEP] have done a lot of good work and we should support this proposal.”
Spry moved to grant CCLEP the $2,000. Councilor Jan Sivertson and Mayor Carlson voted to approve it. Council members Bill Lenz and Tim Kennedy were absent from the meeting.
There were no council or staff reports, nor even a mention this meeting of the beavers who have been gleefully logging trees around the harbor, but one other item of important business taken care of was the granting by council to GMATA of the Christmas Parade permit. Approval was granted at the last meeting, but the application had been misplaced.
The Christmas Parade will be held at 5 p.m. on Friday, November 23. Santa will be there and maybe even his reindeer or elf helpers.
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