While I was away on “vacation” I couldn’t keep up with the blog. During that time the Zenith City Weekly broadsheet published one of the best pieces on the difficulties at the Ordean site. Michael Kooi did a lot of digging.
One of the key hurdles for the District was spelled out nicely:
According to Hamre, the size and scope of the site [Ordean]places it within a gray area of state requirements: It’s not large enough to require an EAW, but it’s not small enough to fall into the “exempt” category – leaving the matter to the city’s discretion.
The city can ask the school district to complete an environmental assessment worksheet before implementing the Ordean plan.
“We will look at any grading that [the district] plan[s] to do at the site,” Hamre says. “As long as they stay far enough away from the shoreland zone, we probably won’t ask for one.”
But that may not be good enough for City Councilor Todd Fedora. “I think it’s imperative that they do an environmental assessment,” he says.
Actually, this is just the first legal challenge that Let Duluth Vote has been contributing to. While Mr. Hamre says that Ordean by itself may face an EAW our attorneys contend the entire $303 million Red Plan monster spread out all over Duluth requires one. We’re waiting for our day in court. We’ve filed our briefs. The countdown has begun.
