Mistakes and misunderstanding can and do happen sometimes, and with this in mind Cottage Grove Council member Justin Olsen apologized to city residents for a misunderstanding on his part regarding the City zoning codes from the September 1 Council meeting, following an appearance and explanation by City Economic Development Director Christine Costello on the city’s zoning codes and definitions.

“Thank you so much, and just to clarify I heard correctly, R1 would allow for a home to be placed on any piece of land that is three acres?” he asked, getting the nod from Costello.

“The minimum lot size is three acres,” Costello said, reading from the official city code book.

“And R2 would be an acre and a half?” he asked, again getting the nod from Costello.

“Well thank you so much for clarifying for me and for—and to the public who may be watching at home, for misleading on the zoning for that piece of land,” Olsen said. “I’m glad we got it cleared up.” Costello went on to say that in the planning world there were “three documents: a comprehensive plan to design things, a subdivision ordinance to say how things will look on a given site, and a zoning ordinance, “which is your regulatory document in terms of what you can do and can’t do in each of those districts.,” she said. “So they kind of all work together,” she summarized. Costello said she viewed the Comprehensive Plan as the most important of the three, calling upon the city attorney to help her in case she got things misinterpreted or wrong on a particular manner. So what was the occasion for the exchanges as made?

The Cottage Grove Common Council meeting of September 15. In the meantime, and with no one present in the audience to give feedback for Open Forum portion on said night, included in the meeting packet were Open Forum Responses by the City as related to Mississippi Dunes from September 1 Open Forum comments. So what else might the City have to say exactly on the Dunes property and proposed development thereon?

First, and in response to citizen comments, the William Cowan/Okey House at 10301 Grey Cloud Trail South with four bedrooms and one bathroom on a three-acre lot zoned as rural (R1) residential, has been given a finding of “Significant” and inventoried with the State Historical Preservation Office, SHPO. The structure with elements of Greek Revival (Cedarhurst is a neoclassical Greek Revival structure) is not a part of the property currently proposed for development. Staff is continuing to learn more about the historic property “in coordination with the Washington County Historical Society, the Minnesota State Preservation Office (SHPO) and community members.”

Not stated in the City’s response but important to note is that the listed property, while it is not currently proposed for development, is owned by the same entity (Dunes LLC) as others now in the pre-review phase of development for the proposed Mississippi Dunes project, made up as it is of several different parts and/or parcels.

Second, the city response to Open Forum comment notes that an Environmental Assessment Worksheet or EAW “is a document designed to provide analysis of potential environmental impacts for a specific project,” but is not meant to approve or deny a project. Acting as a guide, rather, the EAW determines whether an EIS (Environmental Impact Statement) is needed and while the Responsible Government Unit (RGU) for such assessments is often the city, it could also be a state agency, such as the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA). Following EAW preparation, the comment period on the EAW once complete is 30 calendar days, whereat the decision is made regarding an EIS based on Minnesota Rules 4410.1700, subparts 6 AND 7. “Rules” as such are based in the state statutes and offer further clarification of these. Should an EIS be necessary, permits/approvals cannot be issued until an EIS is completed.

Third, the Comprehensive Plan “is an official document adopted by the County Board as a policy guide to decisions about the physical development of the county.” Setting broad guidelines, the same principle of guiding policy decisions underlies the City’s Comprehensive Plan, as it does that of the County.

Fourth, the former golf course lies in different stages of the Utility staging area as determined according to the Metropolitan Urban Service Area, or MUSA. The northeast corner of the property is in Staging Area One for MUSA, while the rest of the Mississippi Dunes property is in Staging Area 4. Should development move forward, “the utility staging areas will have to be adjusted to reflect the change in development,” the city relates.

Fifth, the city response notes that “a tree inventory is a record of location and characteristics of individual trees, and sometimes characteristics within a defined geographic area. The tree tag helps identify the attributes of a tree, such as its size, species, age, and trees, as well as assist in electronic mapping of the trees for a tree inventory. The tree inventory assists City staff in determining the necessary tree replacement to ensure that all trees are healthy and excludes buckthorn and those species that have led to Dutch Elm Disease,” the response states.

Sixth, the zoning and guiding of the Property “gives the property owner the absolute right to develop the Property into single-family homes,” while “the Property itself is zoned R1-Residential and guided in the City’s 2040 Comprehensive Plan (“Comp Plan”) is ‘Transitional,’” with single family residential a permitted use under a zoning designation of R1.

The above is a general summary of the City’s response to Grey Cloud Trail owners, at least at present. So what about the cash disbursements approved at the September 15 meeting? That’s where the good stuff is at. What are the major expenditures by the City over the last two weeks, taken as a top five index? Here’s a fund summary of where your city tax dollars went for the city billing period spanning September 3 to September 9.

5) Payroll Fund $126,628.63 3) General Fund $58,636.200 2) Street Lights – $ 35,188.03 2) Fleet Maintenance $30,876.99 1) Water Connect/Area $24,997.17 Most city functions, it turns out, are actually quite boring—which if nothing else is all the more reason to pay close attention to things like those ‘boring’ consent agendas and the like, passed through an otherwise routine and unanimous voice vote. The city bills, after all, are taken on a roll call basis.

Willing to help the city with finding funding should it change its mind on Mississippi Dunes, the following was given regarding the above parks concept, per Colleen O’Connor Toberman from Friends of the Mississippi River: “FMR (Friends of the Mississippi River) independently commissioned SRF Consulting in 2019 to create two preliminary concepts for a potential park at Mississippi Dunes. One of the concepts also included some conservation- oriented housing development. Neither of these concepts should be considered current; the city’s draft master plan concepts are a more accurate representation of the city’s intentions for Mississippi Dunes,” she said. For those interested in what the path might be going forward as Friends of the Mississippi River currently sees things, more is available at the Friends of the Mississippi River website, along with a planned community meeting September 18 at the Hamlet Park picnic shelter from 5:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m., sponsored by Cottage Grove neighbors together with the Friend. Image courtesy of www.fmr.org.

The William Cowen/Okey house at 10301 Grey Cloud Trail South (seen from behind the tree) was among those matters covered in recent Council response to comments at a September 1 rally related to the Mississippi Dunes property. Photo by Joseph Back.