NIMBY town

Maybe people would be more amenable to these projects if there were more transparency and if the city applied the zoning laws consistently? Ask the people along London Road or beneath Spirit Mountain if the city is enforcing laws consistently. Also, why is it, when there is a dearth of affordable housing, the city and politicians of all stripes, insist that subsidizing $350k-$600k houses (and how many of these are vacation homes?) or condos somehow helps alleviate this shortage of affordable housing? Maybe start enforcing the law equally without regard as to your last name or to whom your political contributions go?

Thanks, John, for the excellent reporting on the endless shoddy politics of Duluth.

Another aspect of the Loeffler-Kemp residence is a past report that it was built without union labor, and if so, that would add more to the hypocrisy of the concerns brought up by that local “union labor leader” and school board member.

Another aspect, which you touched on, is the children issue. How many young children do these people really have? It is well-known that owners of expensive houses are often older, and of a demographics that have few children. And, in this day and age, how often do children, of this demographic, even play outside?

Missing from this opinion piece is the context of the developer’s pitch to the March Planning Commission meeting. Mr Ericson was evasive and refused to give clear goals for the site beyond wanting flexibility to make stuff up as he went. He asked for a range of density which the Commission refused, and was hyper focused on tiny details like the placement of outdoor grills while vague about number of total units. He also asked that each house be zoned to allow for the building of a detached housing unit that the homeowners could rent out, and was evasive on the question of if the intent was for people to make the development their home or for use as short-term rentals. He went out of his way to assure the Commission that the units to be built would not be affordable, but that even his cottages would be priced comparable to the nearby mcmansions. His drawn plans were unprofessional enough that one Commissioner called them “cartoonish” and a college professor who spoke indicated they would not be acceptable for a college student let alone a supposed professional.

The through line during this entire process has been Mr Ericson’s shifting plans and his seeming willingness to say whatever it takes to get buy-in, while leaving himself enough flexibility to do what he wants.

As for the claims of NIMBY, this may have merit, but does not discredit the serious environmental concerns of building in this location, nor the concerns about the viewshed. By his own admission Mr Erickson wants to build to within a few feet of the height of the cliff overlooking the property. The existing development and the City Council’s blanket waiver of stream setbacks for all of the boondoggle that is Hawk Ridge estates has not helped the serious erosion issues of Amity Creek, banks, admirably highlighted by Mr Ramos’ own photo of the creek.

Finally, the access road for the development passed with 10 feet of an existing home. Not 10 feet from the property, 10 feet from the structure, so this was literally IN their yard, a fact Mr Ericson dismissed by noting they homeowner should have known his plans to build a road there.