The county board decided to put a little more teeth into the enforcement of its county ordinances on July 26 when it denied Joe Sanders a conditional use permit (CUP) to move a house onto the site of Sanders’ salvage yard in Tofte.
According to a written review of the issues by Cook County Planning and Zoning staff, “The applicant intends to move his house, transported onto the site in 2006, to a permanent location in the northeast portion of his landholdings. …As an identified conditional use in the general commercial zone district, there would need to be compelling reasons to not allow this land use in the zone.” The lack of proper screening in front of Joe’s Salvage fronting Highway 61 was apparently a compelling reason.
Sanders has been going through what County Attorney Tim Scannell described at the county board meeting as a “slow” court process after he failed to meet deadlines for improving the appearance of the salvage yard to comply with county ordinances.
Commissioner Sue Hakes indicated she would not be in favor of granting the conditional use permit because Sanders had not shown willingness or ability to comply with local regulations. Commissioner Bruce Martinson said that while Sanders had put fencing up, it did not meet the standards that were required.
Planning and Zoning Director Tim Nelson said his department had tried to give Sanders plenty of time to come into compliance. The board discussed whether Sanders’ request could be used as leverage to get him to whip his property into shape. Commissioner Fritz Sobanja said he didn’t think it was appropriate to hang junkyard compliance over Sanders’ head in considering this request.
The Planning Commission had approved the request under the condition that Sanders get the rest of the property into compliance. At that meeting, according to the Planning and Zoning review document, Planning Commissioner Alan “DC” Olsen stated, “No one is against the house. Instead, it is the failure to follow the rules, demonstrated by the applicant. …If we approve, it should be with a condition that everything else is addressed, and he needs to meet the requirement of zoning.” Olsen was, however, the one to make the motion to approve the CUP.
According to the Planning and Zoning review, Planning Commissioner Jerry Hiniker suggested that their decision should be made independent of other issues unrelated to placing a house on the property. “Other issues are the county attorney’s problems,” that document quotes him as saying.
A July 12 memo from Attorney Scannell to Tim Nelson and Bill Lane of the Planning and Zoning Department states that the Planning Commission “can make compliance a condition, or they can decline to decide on the CUP until he complies. Or deny for noncompliance with other zoning requirements.”
At the county board meeting, Scannell said, “Why would you hand out another benefit of the zoning ordinance when the person is already out of compliance with the zoning ordinance?”
Most of the board agreed with him. Sue Hakes made a motion, seconded by Bruce Martinson, to deny the CUP for noncompliance with other zoning requirements. The motion passed 4-1, with Fritz Sobanja casting the dissenting vote.
Borderland Lodge revival
The board approved returning the former Borderland Lodge property from a lakeshore residential zoning designation back to its historic zoning designation as resort commercial/residential property.
John Schloot purchased the Borderland B and B on Gunflint Lake in 2009. This year, he purchased a parcel next door that had been part of the original Borderland Lodge, hoping to turn the property back into a resort, although it would be only a third of the size of the original.
The property had also been previously known as “Moosehorn Lodge.”
According to one of several enthusiastic letters of support from neighbors, Mr. Schloot and his wife Rose have restored and upgraded the lodge, the property, and the other buildings on it.
The business will operate under the name “Cross River Lodge.”
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