Walls of wood irk neighbor

The woodpiles weren't a problem until they moved behind her house last fall, said Deb Kamunen.

The Cloquet resident has lived next to the former Diamond match mill for 37 years. When the mill was still operating at 1800 Cloquet Avenue - under various owners - the lot behind her home was used for parking.

Now it's a woodyard, piled high with logs stored there for the Potlatch mill in Brainerd. That is an allowed use, according to Cloquet city code.

Woodyard manager Jesse Fitzsimmons leases several sites from LT Diamonds Inc., the local company which bought the large industrial property in 2017. Before last fall, his log piles were farther away from the residences along 18th Street, in what is basically a fenced-in area south and east of the old match mill building. But then he moved some of the piles to the firmer ground behind the homes adjacent to the old match mill.

"The city's told me I'm doing nothing wrong, because I've asked," Fitzsimmons said, stressing that he wants to keep the neighbors as happy as he can while still running his small business.

But what's legal doesn't always resolve safety issues.

Kamunen is worried about kids (like her grandchildren) climbing on the log piles or getting run over by a truck driving down the city alleyway behind her house or going too fast down 18th Street. She also doesn't like the noise, dust and dirt that come with the logs and the trucks.

So she started a one-person campaign to change things. Having worked for the city of Superior for two decades and now Thomson Township, Kamunen knows her way around city code. She filed a complaint in December and has kept up a lively correspondence with Cloquet planner and zoning administrator Al Cottingham ever since.

To reiterate, Cottingham said the logging trucks and the woodyard manager are not doing anything illegal. He explained that Kamunen and her neighbors live in a light industrial district, which allows storage of products (including wood or logs) inside or outside a building. Although city code requires a fence or wall around the products, the city planner said the giant stack of logs behind the homes could meet the definition of an "opaque wall" for city code purposes. And trucks aren't illegal on city streets, even if they are annoying.

However, Cottingham and the city attorney determined the zoning of Kamunen and her neighbors' homes isn't consistent with the city's comprehensive plan.

Therein lies a possible partial solution.

The Cloquet planning commission will consider rezoning the three homes and two vacant lots on Kamunen's block from "light industrial" to "residential" at its meeting April 10.

If the neighbors' homes are rezoned to residential, city code will require a larger setback - 30 feet versus the current 5 feet - from the homes and the public alley behind them.

If the commission recommends it, the Cloquet City Council would consider the rezoning in May and cast the final vote.

The changes aren't designed to eliminate the issue. If the homes are rezoned, there could still be a woodyard out back, but it would need to start a little farther away. That would be OK with neighbor Kelly Vaineo. The former Diamond Brands employee likes the new woodpile wall. "It blocks the wind and snow," Vaineo said. "I have no complaints."

The extra distance won't necessarily prevent unauthorized children or teenagers away from the log piles, but that's not up to Fitzsimmons, the city, or even LT Diamonds Inc.

"It is trespassing," Fitzsimmons said, pointing to posted signs on the logs and around the property. "The parents need to step up and tell them they're in the wrong spot. I want kids to be safe."

The log piles near Kamunen's home were already shrinking last week. Fitzsimmons said he needed to rotate the pine, and send some logs to Brainerd.

"I'm just trying to [run] my business," he said.