Two Harbors City Council considers proposal to build townhomes next to iconic lighthouse
A collection of cairns are left along the shoreline of Lake Superior on Aug. 27, 2019 at Split Rock Lighthouse State Park.
Cairns or man-made stacks of stones are a controversial topic among photographers and some outdoor conservationists who say the stacks pose a danger to people, wildlife and microorganisms while also increasing erosion and leading people in the wrong direction where cairns are used as navigational beacons. Those against unnecessary cairns also say they disturb natural areas and are contrary to the leave-no-trace approach to experiencing nature.
Derek Montgomery for MPR News
Neighbors in Two Harbors on the north shore have been wrestling with the idea of a development near the town’s iconic lighthouse for over two decades. Now, there’s yet another proposal for the land.
The Two Harbors City Council met on Monday about a plan to build between 22 and 28 townhomes on the spot. Those buildings would be taller than the lighthouse. The lighthouse has been a bed and breakfast since 1999.
Lake County Press Editor Kitty Mayo has been covering developments at the site and she was at the meeting on Monday. She spoke with MPR News host Cathy Wurzer about the townhouse plans.
Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.
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Audio transcript
CATHY WURZER: We're going to go up north for this next conversation. If you've driven through Two Harbors on Highway 61 on your way up to the North Shore, you've missed the downtown area, which the highway bypasses, and that's too bad. Just behind the Castle Rock Brewery, the hardware store, and a new cafe are the iron ore docks.
And to tie the harbor together across from the docks is the town's historic red brick lighthouse, one of the first built on Lake Superior. It's now a bed and breakfast run by the Lake County Historical Society.
Well, Two Harbors has been wrestling with the idea of a development near that lighthouse for more than two decades, and now there's yet another proposal for the land. The Two Harbors City Council met last night about a plan to build between 22 and 28 townhomes on Lighthouse Point, buildings taller than the lighthouse itself.
Lake County Press editor Kitty Mayo has been covering developments at the site. She was at the meeting last night. She's on the line right now. Hey, Kitty, good to talk with you again.
KITTY MAYO: Hi, Cathy. Nice to talk with you.
CATHY WURZER: A little history lesson here. How did this pristine piece of land come up for sale in the first place? Since the lighthouse is on the Historic Register, you'd think the city would have protected the area around it years ago. What happened?
KITTY MAYO: That's a good lead-in, and there's so much history to cover. So we're going way back to the late 1990s and the era of Sam Cave, a developer that purchased the entire lighthouse except for that one acre plot that is historically preserved, that the lighthouse lives on.
And at that time, there was lots of excitement and pushback. Cave actually purchased the land in 2002. The land had been up for sale by the railroad prior to that. City attempted to purchase it, couldn't come up with the money in time, and the deal went through to Sam Cave, who was the developer at the time.
Over several years, a deal was finally hammered out because there was a lot of public pushback. An agreement was entered into between the city and Sam Cave to give most of the land on the Lighthouse Point to the city as a reserve property that could not be built on.
And he maintained several acres himself and proposed to build on it. By 2006, an agreement had been worked out. However, it was not entirely set in stone, it appeared, and Cave kind of backed out of that. It wasn't until 2013 that a court order for Sam Cave to turn over the land deeds to the land that was now going to be for the city.
So he maintained owning that property, and then a few years ago, that property went into ownership by a different company, ACRE Development, which was formerly owned by Sam Cave but isn't any longer. So that's the partial history in a nutshell.
CATHY WURZER: Wow, OK, that's a little convoluted.
KITTY MAYO: I know.
CATHY WURZER: So the land really isn't protected then, right? It's owned for the most part by this private company.
KITTY MAYO: That is correct. These approximate 11 acres are not protected. They are owned privately. My understanding is that there is a contract in place for purchase for the property to move to another owner by the name of Jack Lax, who currently has a document to act on behalf of ACRE development.
CATHY WURZER: So what are they planning to do? It sounds like there is a plan to build some townhomes on the site, which, I don't know how that's sitting with folks in Two Harbors.
KITTY MAYO: It's not sitting well. There was a lot of outcry, as you can imagine, at the public hearing last night. There was about a dozen individuals who spoke out strongly against any development there, but particularly this development.
And the number they've settled on is 26 units plus a commercial building, and these would be townhomes that would be run by a housing association and owned separately, to the tune of about $700,000 per unit, so high-end housing, not the kind of affordable housing that the city is in rather desperate need of.
CATHY WURZER: And right by the lighthouse?
KITTY MAYO: Right up close to the lighthouse. You can hardly-- a stone's throw, really, because they do own all that property except for what's sort of directly inside of the fence that goes, that one acre of the lighthouse.
This would include the need for blasting, jackhammers, all this kind of thing next to a historically preserved site, which has really been called into question. That was one of the issues that came up a lot last night. Could this even be allowed?
I did speak to a construction developer who's on hire to Jack Lax right now. He was at the meeting as well, and he and I had a private conversation this morning. He said he didn't think there was going to be any problem with the removal of rock from that site, and he feels really hopeful about the development going forward.
CATHY WURZER: Well, of course, there's some public pushback, but I'm assuming there are also supporters, right? What were they talking about? What were they saying? Why would this be needed?
KITTY MAYO: There were a few people who spoke last night in favor of the project exactly as it is, but only a couple. There were several other people who said we don't like this plan. We would like to see something happen there. It'd probably be a good thing for the residents in the area in the city, but let's scale it back, let's tone it down, let's talk about doing something smaller, not as high.
Now I will say that the construction person, Ted Stockey, who I spoke to this morning, he said they've amended their plans so that the height limit would not exceed 35 feet, which is, according to him, not taller than the lighthouse. Now where you measure that 35 feet from, I find to be interesting, and I think still needs some exploration.
CATHY WURZER: Can the city come in with some kind of money to buy this property once and for all?
KITTY MAYO: That is another idea, that people at the City Council meeting and the public hearing last night did bring up. There are not any plans or any pots of money that I'm aware of that would make that happen in a manner that could happen quickly.
From what I understand, ACRE development wants to sell that property, and they have found a purchaser in Jack Lax. And apparently Jack feels that this development would be a good return on his investment for purchasing that property. Outside of that, I don't know of anyone willing or able to say, I'm going to buy the land at a cost that the seller would find to be profitable and keep it as a preserved area.
CATHY WURZER: I was just thinking about legacy amendment money, something from the state, perhaps, to purchase and preserve that land as a reserve. I have no idea, of course, if that would work. Any decisions made at this meeting?
KITTY MAYO: There were not any decisions made at the meeting last night. The one thing that we do know is that the city attorney for Two Harbors has determined that a agreement between the city and Sam Cave in 2006 does not apply to this development.
Another thing that was clarified in earlier meetings and brought up again last night is that there was an agreement between the city and ACRE development for a acre of land that they needed for their wastewater treatment plant right in that same area.
A trade was made. That acreage was given to the city with the agreement that favorable zoning would be applied to development on this acreage that we're now talking about. However, it appears that the city will not lose the land that they obtained for their water treatment plant because this development is different than what was in that initial agreement. So there's some more details to be sorted out, I think.
CATHY WURZER: OK, but right now, ground will not be broken until things are worked out?
KITTY MAYO: It's going to be a while, and I think there's going to be a lot more engagement from the community, now that the issue is out and a lot more discussion between a whole variety of parties saying what we really want to see happen here and what's the best use of this property that so many of us, visitors and locals, use and is a treasure, right on Lake Superior.
CATHY WURZER: Kitty Mayo, thanks for the reporting.
KITTY MAYO: Thank you very much, Cathy. Good to talk to you.
CATHY WURZER: Likewise. Kitty Mayo is the editor at Lake County Press.
And to tie the harbor together across from the docks is the town's historic red brick lighthouse, one of the first built on Lake Superior. It's now a bed and breakfast run by the Lake County Historical Society.
Well, Two Harbors has been wrestling with the idea of a development near that lighthouse for more than two decades, and now there's yet another proposal for the land. The Two Harbors City Council met last night about a plan to build between 22 and 28 townhomes on Lighthouse Point, buildings taller than the lighthouse itself.
Lake County Press editor Kitty Mayo has been covering developments at the site. She was at the meeting last night. She's on the line right now. Hey, Kitty, good to talk with you again.
KITTY MAYO: Hi, Cathy. Nice to talk with you.
CATHY WURZER: A little history lesson here. How did this pristine piece of land come up for sale in the first place? Since the lighthouse is on the Historic Register, you'd think the city would have protected the area around it years ago. What happened?
KITTY MAYO: That's a good lead-in, and there's so much history to cover. So we're going way back to the late 1990s and the era of Sam Cave, a developer that purchased the entire lighthouse except for that one acre plot that is historically preserved, that the lighthouse lives on.
And at that time, there was lots of excitement and pushback. Cave actually purchased the land in 2002. The land had been up for sale by the railroad prior to that. City attempted to purchase it, couldn't come up with the money in time, and the deal went through to Sam Cave, who was the developer at the time.
Over several years, a deal was finally hammered out because there was a lot of public pushback. An agreement was entered into between the city and Sam Cave to give most of the land on the Lighthouse Point to the city as a reserve property that could not be built on.
And he maintained several acres himself and proposed to build on it. By 2006, an agreement had been worked out. However, it was not entirely set in stone, it appeared, and Cave kind of backed out of that. It wasn't until 2013 that a court order for Sam Cave to turn over the land deeds to the land that was now going to be for the city.
So he maintained owning that property, and then a few years ago, that property went into ownership by a different company, ACRE Development, which was formerly owned by Sam Cave but isn't any longer. So that's the partial history in a nutshell.
CATHY WURZER: Wow, OK, that's a little convoluted.
KITTY MAYO: I know.
CATHY WURZER: So the land really isn't protected then, right? It's owned for the most part by this private company.
KITTY MAYO: That is correct. These approximate 11 acres are not protected. They are owned privately. My understanding is that there is a contract in place for purchase for the property to move to another owner by the name of Jack Lax, who currently has a document to act on behalf of ACRE development.
CATHY WURZER: So what are they planning to do? It sounds like there is a plan to build some townhomes on the site, which, I don't know how that's sitting with folks in Two Harbors.
KITTY MAYO: It's not sitting well. There was a lot of outcry, as you can imagine, at the public hearing last night. There was about a dozen individuals who spoke out strongly against any development there, but particularly this development.
And the number they've settled on is 26 units plus a commercial building, and these would be townhomes that would be run by a housing association and owned separately, to the tune of about $700,000 per unit, so high-end housing, not the kind of affordable housing that the city is in rather desperate need of.
CATHY WURZER: And right by the lighthouse?
KITTY MAYO: Right up close to the lighthouse. You can hardly-- a stone's throw, really, because they do own all that property except for what's sort of directly inside of the fence that goes, that one acre of the lighthouse.
This would include the need for blasting, jackhammers, all this kind of thing next to a historically preserved site, which has really been called into question. That was one of the issues that came up a lot last night. Could this even be allowed?
I did speak to a construction developer who's on hire to Jack Lax right now. He was at the meeting as well, and he and I had a private conversation this morning. He said he didn't think there was going to be any problem with the removal of rock from that site, and he feels really hopeful about the development going forward.
CATHY WURZER: Well, of course, there's some public pushback, but I'm assuming there are also supporters, right? What were they talking about? What were they saying? Why would this be needed?
KITTY MAYO: There were a few people who spoke last night in favor of the project exactly as it is, but only a couple. There were several other people who said we don't like this plan. We would like to see something happen there. It'd probably be a good thing for the residents in the area in the city, but let's scale it back, let's tone it down, let's talk about doing something smaller, not as high.
Now I will say that the construction person, Ted Stockey, who I spoke to this morning, he said they've amended their plans so that the height limit would not exceed 35 feet, which is, according to him, not taller than the lighthouse. Now where you measure that 35 feet from, I find to be interesting, and I think still needs some exploration.
CATHY WURZER: Can the city come in with some kind of money to buy this property once and for all?
KITTY MAYO: That is another idea, that people at the City Council meeting and the public hearing last night did bring up. There are not any plans or any pots of money that I'm aware of that would make that happen in a manner that could happen quickly.
From what I understand, ACRE development wants to sell that property, and they have found a purchaser in Jack Lax. And apparently Jack feels that this development would be a good return on his investment for purchasing that property. Outside of that, I don't know of anyone willing or able to say, I'm going to buy the land at a cost that the seller would find to be profitable and keep it as a preserved area.
CATHY WURZER: I was just thinking about legacy amendment money, something from the state, perhaps, to purchase and preserve that land as a reserve. I have no idea, of course, if that would work. Any decisions made at this meeting?
KITTY MAYO: There were not any decisions made at the meeting last night. The one thing that we do know is that the city attorney for Two Harbors has determined that a agreement between the city and Sam Cave in 2006 does not apply to this development.
Another thing that was clarified in earlier meetings and brought up again last night is that there was an agreement between the city and ACRE development for a acre of land that they needed for their wastewater treatment plant right in that same area.
A trade was made. That acreage was given to the city with the agreement that favorable zoning would be applied to development on this acreage that we're now talking about. However, it appears that the city will not lose the land that they obtained for their water treatment plant because this development is different than what was in that initial agreement. So there's some more details to be sorted out, I think.
CATHY WURZER: OK, but right now, ground will not be broken until things are worked out?
KITTY MAYO: It's going to be a while, and I think there's going to be a lot more engagement from the community, now that the issue is out and a lot more discussion between a whole variety of parties saying what we really want to see happen here and what's the best use of this property that so many of us, visitors and locals, use and is a treasure, right on Lake Superior.
CATHY WURZER: Kitty Mayo, thanks for the reporting.
KITTY MAYO: Thank you very much, Cathy. Good to talk to you.
CATHY WURZER: Likewise. Kitty Mayo is the editor at Lake County Press.
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