Council considers rezone

Cloquet City councilors will likely vote on a business owner’s request to change zoning and land use at Tuesday’s meeting.

Ken Maki would like to construct an office/shop for his business, on land near his home south of North Road and Sunnyside Lane. In order to do that, he’s asking the city to change the Comprehensive Plan for that property from moderate- to high-density residential, and then rezone the property from single family residential to regional commercial.

The land in question is surrounded by mixed properties, with some single-family homes nearby, and the Diamond Willow Assisted Living facility and Gordy’s Hi-Hat and Warming House property to the east. The Boulder Drive neighborhood lies about 400 yards south of the property.

The Cloquet Planning Commission recommended the council approve the changes, but several neighbors spoke out against the proposal at the Oct. 17 council meeting and in letters to the city and the newspaper.

Nearby homeowner Angela Graff and her son Cole Wuollet said they are already disturbed by two dump trucks parked outside Maki’s home that start as early as 4 a.m.

“They cause my house to shake and wake everyone up, including my son’s 2-year-old child,” Graff said in a letter requesting the city ask the business to move instead of rezoning the property to allow Maki to add more dump trucks.

Former planning commission member John Sanders also expressed opposition, noting the increased traffic and noise that would affect Diamond Willow and other neighbors and pointing out the city’s need for more residential housing, another development possibility.

“I wondered what the noise was north of us, but I thought it was construction because I had no idea there was a commercial business operating on a residential property,” his wife Dana Sanders told councilors, adding that the beeping of the dump trucks’ back-up alarms travels, especially in the warmer months when they like to open their windows.

The council heard the staff report and held a public hearing Oct. 17, but delayed the vote until the Nov. 7 council meeting, which starts at 6 p.m.