Guest view: Council decision shows little regard for residents

I was disheartened by the Cloquet City Council’s recent 5-1 vote to approve rezoning of the lot adjacent to Sammy’s Pizza from R-1 (single-family resident) to RC (highway commercial) in order for the owner to put a parking lot on a former residential lot. The planning commission, of which I am a member, had twice considered this issue, and twice rejected the change. Indeed, the council had considered it in their prior meeting but, after receiving erroneous information that the commission had rejected based on a misunderstanding, had sent it back to the commission, as “(they) are the experts.”

I, of course, am disappointed that the council would so overwhelmingly override its “experts.” My real outrage emanates from how little respect the councilors seem to have for their constituents, the residents of the city.

I am a fairly new transplant to the city, having moved here in retirement to enjoy all the wonderful things the Northland has to offer. In full disclosure, I didn’t target Cloquet, preferring Duluth for its beauty and proximity to Lake Superior. But my partner and I found a house in Cloquet that checked off more of our boxes than anything available in

Duluth at the time, so settled here. As frequent walkers, we soon became disappointed in our new city. The zoning seemed haphazard, with business and residential areas commingled, and ordinances either lacking or not enforced. Many homes are in great disrepair. Trailer homes are allowed as permanent structures. Some yards are cluttered with abandoned cars and other debris, and sidewalks — where they exist — are in ill repair and not kept clear of either snow or overgrown brush. Indeed, our next commission meeting will discuss removing a home and replacing it with a manufactured home.

I recognize that Cloquet is a blue collar town with a significant poverty problem, so one can’t expect it to be another Aspen. But I still wanted to do what I could to try to improve it aesthetically, so volunteered to serve on the planning commission when a seat became available.

The Sammy’s issue was the first contentious one to come before us in my tenure, and touched on so many of the issues that concerned me. The parking lot will infringe on a wonderfully kept, quiet neighborhood, whose residents have already had their property values reduced once by the Highway 33 expansion, and will see further reduction now. The parking lot will come incredibly close to one home. I challenge any reader to go to the area in question, look at the plans, and decide whether they’d want a pizza shop parking lot that close to their own home. The neighbors were in near unanimous opposition to the rezoning. They all purchased their homes with the understanding that the zoning was residential.

I am sympathetic with business interests, having spent my entire career helping to build businesses of all sizes. I also strongly feel that Cloquet has an urgent need for more employers, to help reduce the aforementioned poverty. And I recognize that sometimes residents will need to sacrifice for the greater good, such as a much-needed road being expanded. But we must keep in mind that, for most people, their home is far and away their largest investment. Indeed, for many families, it is the only substantial investment that they have. We raise our families in our homes, and spend the majority of our lives there. Hence, we choose our homes carefully, with neighborhood aesthetics and livability being no small part of that equation.

The particular issue at hand is a parking lot. It is perhaps related to a business expansion but, in this case, the number and quality of jobs created would be miniscule. As we have a largely vacant section of the city on the West End that is in need of commercial expansion, removing one of our few green spaces, while also intruding on the peace of many families, for the purpose of a parking lot seems short-sighted. I don’t think a parking lot and a few pizza jobs should win out over a major disruption for 13 families.

Finally, it bears repeating that this area has been zoned residential since the early 1950s. Not only did the residents of the area count on this in purchasing their homes; the owner of Sammy’s was fully aware of this when he purchased the property.

Cloquet has great potential — particularly as Duluth real estate prices continue to rise — to attract growing families from there. If we take no pride in our city’s aesthetics, we will never be desirable. We pay incredibly high property taxes. Mine are higher than what I paid for a home worth twice as much in the Twin Cities area, and that was already one of the area’s highest-taxed counties.

We deserve to have our interests considered by our representatives.

Mark Cline is a professional fine art photographer and retired executive recruiter who resides in Cloquet. He joined the Cloquet Planning Commission in March.