Items of interest:
- Almost certainly some whining about the Airbnb petition
- Front yard garden public comment period
- Façade grant extensions to next summer (!)
- Condos want more city services
Airbnb petition
There isn’t a formal item, but you can bet some council members will defend showing up at petition signer’s homes to argue about it and say that Airbnbs are good. Word on the street is that council member Bittner was circulating his own pro-Airbnb petition, but I don’t have direct evidence of that.
Front yard garden public comment period
This will be your one chance to speak up for or against making front yard gardens permanent. I don’t care much, but here’s the sketchy parts.
- Side yard and backyard gardens are allowed no matter what happens.
- Plan Commission that includes residents recommends denial, but the city intentionally worded it as “it was a tie to approve it.”
- Allows plastic containers like I show in the picture. Looks awesome! Also allows using corrugated metal or plastic as a raised-bed material, which we don’t allow as building materials in the city elsewhere.
- Allows using old canoes and kayaks as raised beds. Literally the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard come out of the city so far on any topic. This is called “anchoring,” where someone makes an absurd request so that the real thing they want seems reasonable as a compromise.
- There is no maximum height on raised beds, and the most attractive front yard garden in the city is in violation of the ordinance because it’s not in raised beds.
This would be an example below of why individual containers should not be allowed. It looks horrible, ignoring the fact that there is more sun throughout the day in the side yard. More photos here: https://www.two-rivers.org/eaboard/page/front-yard-vegetable-garden-yearly-pictures
Façade grant extensions to next summer
Three grants to businesses to fix the front of their buildings require extensions for various reasons. But the extensions are until August 2025. So expect to see Crafty Cravings and The Hook Lanes look like it does until the end of next summer.
Condos want more city services
Blue Heron Condominium owners don’t want to pay for their own sewer maintenance and leaf collection on their private streets, arguing that their property taxes should cover it. This isn’t normally done in cities, as that’s what condo fees are for.
This is pretty much a done deal unless residents speak out about it in force.
The topic for Monday is only leaf collection on condo private streets, since it’s going to take another month or two for the contract negotiation on the rest of it.
Meeting Agenda Packet
You can read the full packet that council members get here:
https://mccmeetings.blob.core.usgovcloudapi.net/tworivrswi-pubu/MEET-Packet-803b06721628429fa278be297e7fe2b8.pdf
