Lighthouse Point Group Newsletter
Fall 2006/Winter 2007
Lighthouse Point Settlement Agreement Reached
On October 20, 2006, the City of Two Harbors reached a settlement with Sam Cave, the owner of most of Lighthouse Point, Pork City Hill and other Agate Bay waterfront property. It allows for up to four condominiums in the grassy area on the Point and five condominium-hotels facing the Agate Bay ore docks near the DNR parking lot. The city has agreed to change the comprehensive plan and zoning on the Point and to attempt to annex Pork City Hill from the county. It will extend utilities to all his properties. It will create three TIF districts for his projects, helping him to finance his developments through relief on his property taxes for 25 years.
The city will receive the wooded ridge on the eastern side of the point and some additional waterfront property downtown, including the land under the community center and the park by the Edna G. tugboat.
The agreement was the result of a 13-hour court-ordered mediation session regarding one of Cave’s many lawsuits against the city. It ended up resolving all of them. See www.savelighthousepoint.org for details of the agreement and specifics of the development proposals as they are made available. The Lighthouse Point Group, with help from our attorney, will continue to monitor the permitting and construction process.
Binding Settlement Agreement--Or is it?
The Two Harbors city council has made the first steps to fulfill its part of the October agreement and allow the developer to build on part of the Point. Cave’s parcels were not zoned for condominiums when he purchased them; he had sued in an attempt to force the change. The first readings of the ordinances to change zoning on the Point from Parks and Recreation and Industrial to Mixed Use Waterfront were on Nov. 13. At the same time, the land on the Point that the city was acquiring from Cave was changed from Parks and Recreation to the more protective Park Preserve status.
Three readings are required to make these changes official, and in a bizarre move, Cave--who had been pushing for his Mixed Use Waterfront zoning for four years--contacted the city in December to say it was moving too quickly. He said he regarded the settlement agreement as “conceptual,” and cited the “soft market” as one reason for putting the brakes on.
Despite the developer’s protestations, the agreement does state that it is “binding.” The new city council is united in support of the agreement. The second readings of the changed ordinances for Lighthouse Point have been tabled while the two differing interpretations of the agreement are resolved. Cave has not submitted any plans to the City for his projects and it is not yet clear when the City will be able to move forward with its half of the agreement.
Environmental Testing for Soil Contamination in Grassy Area
In November 2006, soil testing began on Lighthouse Point in the grassy area between the sewage plant and the water intake plant where the developer plans to build condominiums. His 2004 Environmental Assessment Worksheet (EAW) stated that preliminary testing “determined there are some amounts of contaminated soil at the site.”
Cave is enrolled in the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) Voluntary Investigation and Cleanup (VIC) program and has contracted with American Engineering and Testing (AET). When AET showed up unexpectedly one morning with heavy equipment and began digging test pits for soil samples, the LHP Group’s environmental attorney, Marc Fink, was alerted. He called the MPCA project hydrologist, Mark Elliott, who had not been told of the plans to begin sampling. Elliott came out to the site to oversee the work.
According to a Dec. 15, 2006 article in the Lake County News-Chronicle, Elliott said AET would likely be testing for “heavy metals, oil, tar, volatile organic compounds and arsenic--which has been found along the track area.” The DM&IR railroad was the former owner of the site, and when the developer purchased their land, he took on the responsibility for all contamination cleanup costs. One of his lawsuits--dropped as part of the settlement agreement--had attempted to force the city to pay for cleanup.
Testing results have not been made available to the public. The land is currently being used as a park, and the MPCA position has been that if the soil is not being disturbed, remediation of contamination is not usually an issue. If construction is to get underway, the contamination would need to be cleaned up first.
Birds of Lighthouse Point
The controversial development proposals for Lighthouse Point have drawn attention to the need for habitat protection for the many birds that nest there and stopover to rest and feed during spring and fall migrations.
Our website <www.savelighthousepoint.org> now has a list of over 230 species of birds that have been spotted on Lighthouse Point. The list was compiled by Jim Lind, Two Harbors, who is a seasonal reports compiler with the Minnesota Ornithologists’ Union (MOU) and editor of the Duluth Rare Bird Alert.
Bird watchers from all over the country are drawn to Two Harbors by Lighthouse Point. It has publicly-owned parking lots, easy accessibility to a variety of terrain--wooded high ground, grassy fields, brush, bed rock shoreline with splash pools, cobbled beaches and a deep harbor--and an amazing diversity of species. The long finger of the Point sticking out into Lake Superior provides a resting spot which concentrates migrating birds.
Lind reported that two highlights for the Two Harbors area Christmas bird count this year were the Three-toed and Black-backed woodpeckers on the Point. In Fall of 2006, the Point was the most reliable spot in the entire state for viewing these two species. They come down from Canada on a 10-year cycle. On the downside, he noted an unexplained long-term decline in Evening Grosbeaks. Statistics on counts from all over Minnesota are available on www.rohair.com/cbc/index.php.
“The most exciting find I’ve ever had on Lighthouse Point was a Black-throated Gray Warbler in May of 2000,” said Lind. “This was only the fifth time one had been documented in Minnesota. This is certainly not a bird I expect to see again here…but it does illustrate the fact that the area is used by a huge variety of migrating birds.” Twenty-eight species of warblers have been documented on the Point, he reported. Many of the warblers are migrants, but at least eight species actually nest there, including the Black-throated Green Warbler, the Yellow-rumped Warbler and American Redstart. “This is a great diversity, considering the size of the forest,” Lind said.
In addition to the warblers, a few others that in Lind’s opinion standout are: Merlin, Northern Saw-whet Owl, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Bohemian Waxwing, and White-winged Crossbill. His notes on these are on our website. Waterbirds that are relatively rare for Minnesota and that Lind reports can be found fairly consistently on Lake Superior off Lighthouse Point are: Harlequin Duck, Surf Scoter, White-winged Scoter, Black Scoter, Long-tailed Duck, Pacific Loon and Glaucous Gull.
Lighthouse Point Group to Continue Role as Watchdog
The settlement agreement supported by the council seems to be the best that can done under the circumstances. The city would not commit to purchasing the land--even with our standing offer of help finding private grants to supplement the city’s previous federal and state grants--and the owner was not willing to negotiate on his stated price of over $5,000,000. The agreement will protect some of the parkland on the Point and the downtown waterfront by putting it into public ownership. Our group has offered to provide legal assistance to help put the Park Preserve land into a permanent conservation trust, but the city is planning to protect it with deed restrictions.
The board of directors of the LHP Group has determined the group will take a wait-and-see approach to the settlement agreement. Many Lighthouse Point supporters have hung in there for over four years and are clearly in it for the long haul. We are committed to monitoring the permitting and construction process and will keep the issues in front of the public. Our grants from Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat and Fund (GLAHNF) provide for continued legal assistance.
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Many thank yous to board members--Jan Halligan, Mary Klausen, Glenn Johnson, Micky McGilligan and Brian Turk; coordinator Karin Smith; Minnesota Environmental Partnership organizers David Abazs and Julie O’Leary; environmental attorney Marc Fink; GLAHNF; Jacob LeBeau--newsletter design; Maryann Davies--member list; Becky Norlien--Web site; Dave Gilsvik--Celebrate Lighthouse Point Banner; the candidates who supported our position and those who voted for them; Heritage Days, Folk Festival and Lake County Fair booth volunteers; those who attended council meetings, talked to their city councilors, spoke up at hearings and wrote letters; and all who have sent in contributions.
Thanks to all of you, our combined efforts have:
- alerted residents to the vulnerability of the town’s water supply (just 500 feet offshore)
- raised awareness of the environmental, cultural, and economic value of undeveloped greenspace
- drawn attention to the need for permanent protection of parkland
- contributed to the creation of the Parks Preserve zoning category
- knit together a diverse group of people who care about Lighthouse Point and our parks
You Can Help
- talk to people from all over the state about what’s happening on the Point
- attend Two Harbors Council meetings (5 p.m. agenda and 7 p.m. regular, 2nd & 4th Mondays)
- attend planning and zoning meetings (schedule on door of council chambers)
- walk the Point and carry a litter bag
- help plan an event--a winter social, spring birding event, May cleanup day, photography festival
- make a contribution--small donations are welcome to defray mailing costs
- stay informed, stay in touch and help build our network – www.savelighthousepoint.org
Lighthouse Point -- Take the Long View