A savage fight over the Savage Fen
David Peterson • dapeterson@startribune.com • 612-673-4440
A group of neighbors is accusing the city of Savage of endangering a sensitive natural area by approving a housing development that is being proposed by the brother of one of its council members.
But city officials say those opponents just don't want to lose a pretty piece of wooded acreage outside their back doors.
At issue is the Savage Fen, a rare wetland that is the largest of its kind in Minnesota. It extends along much of the northern border of the city, not far from the Minnesota River.
Karl Bohn, a major landowner in the Savage area, is proposing a housing development called Dan Patch Trail, about a quarter-mile from the fen. The first phase, 51 units, has full approval; the other 70 have preliminary approval. An additional 100 or so units could follow later.
"This is a pretty significant piece of property environmentally," said Alexandra Klass, a University of Minnesota law professor of environmental law who is representing the neighbors. "For the city to say there are no environmental issues without looking is exactly what the law is intended to prevent."
An attempt in the late 1980s to develop the same area was not well-received by government agencies responsible for environmental oversight, she added.
The city's planning manager, Bryan Tucker, said the project has approval from the environmental agencies that had reservations decades ago. [Ah, Pawlenty; it is probably the same MPCA considering the Fen that sees no major problems with the idea of a former shooting range as a place for changeover housing use]
Neighbors note that Council Member Janet Williams, a candidate for mayor, is Bohn's sister.
Williams routinely discloses that tie as the issue comes up, stressing that she has no financial interest in the project and sees no reason not to vote on it. [Savage Mayor Tom] Brennan said it's no more troubling than another council member being the brother of the city's fire chief.
Interesting. They have a Mayor Tom, and a woman on council acting to advance land dealings of close family and wanting to run for and be mayor. It sounds as if it could be a soap opera plot because it is so unlikely to ever happen in real life, with implausibility being a key criterion for soap opera plots.
I guess the only variant yet to be tried is tag-team partners --- such as Ventura owning that green acres land in Maple Grove and wanting to see Adrian "Venus" Adonis on council.
I wonder if these people in Savage are relatives of lobbyists Ray Bohn and Jon Bohn, who have represented the "All Terrain Vehicle Association of Minnesota." Jon Bohn was a focal person in a 2006 Minnesota Sixth District campaign dispute while working last election on the Wetterling MN 6 congressional campaign until discharged after candidate Michele Bachmann complained publicly of an alleged effort to infiltrate her campaign for unfair advantage.
I recall a gravel hiking trail in the Cascades outside of North Bend, Washington, where a quiet ATV at a safe and sane speed was coming out of the mountians, a hunter hauling a bear out of the woods, proper tag on the ear and all, and where a noisy ATV is counterproductive to hunting goals. It made more sense than dragging the kill by hand for miles. Polaris advertises cautiously, notice the helmets in each photo, but then cowboys are cowboys are cowboys; and there has been dispute, complaint and compromise.
I believe lobbyist Jon Bohn presently has a role in or affiliation with the MN 6 campaign of lobbyist El Tinklenberg, who in representing Anoka Co Regional Rail Authority . That's the Yantos run Northstar rail effort that has local GOP legislative support, but Anoka County Watchdog has repeatedly criticized it as wasteful and illmanaged.
There is also Tinklenberg lobbying for a Hassan Mainstreet LLC, which may be linked to fostering the Development of Crabgrass on the other side of the River from Anoka County. One could say they're a "Stone's Throw" away, and read carefully and that "LIVE WORK PLAY" thing on that link is very, very scary.
We in Ramsey have heard that promotional "LIVE WORK PLAY" slogan before, and the post below features Dogbert - who I do not believe likes the phrase.
And we may hope that Republican legislator Joyce Peppin doesn't live in a glass house, since her Stone's Throw support and legislation looks to be competing with Ramsey's highway needs along Highway 10, with DFL candidate Tinklenberg looking to be working both sides ot the street in that "tension for funding" situation. Paid consulting for Ramsey, on Highway 10 development matters; lobbying for Hassan Mainstreet LLC, for a different and competing highway development project. He agrees with his friends I guess.
If it's a unified effort at working the levers to advance a new River Bridge, then Tinklenberg should say so. He should forthrightly indicate if advancing such projects is as much a cause for his hat in the ring as professed remorse and loathing over the Hwy 35 bridge collapse; per earlier press indications.
One has to wonder, what would the press have been told if Hatch and won and the bridge fell on schedule. Same thing? Same blame game? Not likely.
Certainly Molnau is an easy target now. [This link, p.14].
Even if it is Pawlenty ultimately pulling all the executive spending and tax-policy strings, Molnau is a convenient lightning rod for him. But Tinklenberg first is running against DFLer Bob Olson, and if successful on that, against GOP incumbent Michele Bachmann.
Not Molnau. Olson then possibly Bachmann.
____________________UPDATE_____________________
One Hassan - Stone's Throw item, here. In discussing AUAR effort detail of the direction and scope of the project emerges. The indication is an intent to build, at a livlier highway intersection, a competing project much like Ramsey Town Center. Even including, as noted, the LIVE WORK PLAY badging and branding. How much of that is feasible, without market saturation, i.e., without one project's competition for buyers affecting another project adversely? Again, it appears as working both sides of a competitive situation but agreeing with friends.