Star Tribune
North Oaks buildout to continue after settlement between James J. Hill descendants and the city
The messy legal battle between North Oaks and the city’s founding family and master developer — the heirs of legendary St. Paul railroad magnate James J. Hill — is finally over.
The result is that the exclusive Ramsey County suburb of 5,300 will be built out over the next decade according to the Hill family’s vision, despite initial resistance from a majority of the City Council.
The North Oaks Co., owned by Hill’s great-granddaughter Mari Harpur and her husband, Doug, now has the city’s approval to build out the final phases of the private community.
That includes lots for 37 single-family homes, 73 townhomes and 74 condos — adjacent to 900 acres of open space that comprise the largest conservation easement held by the Minnesota Land Trust in the metro area, said Mark Houge, president of North Oaks Co.
The only approval still needed is for 17 additional lots for single-family homes, he said.
“The Harpurs are really proud of the work they’ve done to get us where we are today,” said Houge, noting the ongoing emphasis on environmental stewardship. “Each day the value of that conservation easement becomes more evident.”
But it’s taken months of litigation and hours of contentious City Council meetings to get to this point, he said.
The public dispute roiled the affluent bedroom community, best known for its natural setting and its privacy. Uninvited visitors can be ticketed for trespassing by simply driving on the city’s private roads.
City officials did not return requests for comment. But according to a news release, they were “pleased to have resolved this litigation” and looked forward to working with the North Oaks Co. in the future.
The release added that the litigation will not affect North Oaks’ insurance premiums. The city relied on the League of Minnesota Cities Insurance Trust for legal council.
The Hill family’s history with North Oaks dates back to 1883, when Hill purchased more than 5,000 acres for farming. His descendants inherited the property, and in the 1950s created a community with spacious lots, ample privacy and an emphasis on preserving its natural beauty.
Mari Harpur bought out her siblings in the 1990s and mapped the buildout of the community with an eye toward environmental stewardship. Newer homes are clustered together to allow for open natural space.
City leaders approved that concept in 1999 as part of a planned development agreement. Since then, that agreement has been amended multiple times and construction has commenced in phases.
But a new majority of City Council members elected in 2020 was skeptical of the 1999 agreement and its amendments. The council denied final approval of the townhome development in the fall of 2021, citing failure to meet applicable regulations, and earlier this year withheld final approval for 16 single-family home lots.
The North Oaks Co. filed suit challenging both council denials. At a hearing in the case in February, Ramsey County District Judge Patrick Diamond said city leaders’ actions appeared to “border on disingenuous.”
In April, the City Council reversed itself and approved both the townhome and single-family development.
“It was exactly as was originally presented by the company, in conformance with the terms of the development agreement between the city and the company,” Houge said.
Diamond ruled in July that the council’s reversal made the North Oaks Co. suit and the company’s request for damages largely moot. Earlier this month, the city and company agreed to dismiss one remaining claim related to public records and the Minnesota Data Practices Act, ending the litigation.
Houge said an independent appraiser estimates the North Oaks Co. lost $1.5 million due to the delays and changing market conditions.
“Interest rates have doubled from 3 to 6 percent, and construction costs have gone up 20 percent,” Houge said. “That will ultimately be born by the homeowners.”
The company considered appealing the judge’s ruling on damages but ultimately decided against it. “We didn’t feel it was fair to penalize the entire community for the actions of four council members. The residents would have paid,” Houge said.
The Harpurs, who own a residence in North Oaks, sent out a two-page letter to every household in the city earlier this month providing a timeline of the dispute and explaining the outcome.
“For 70 years we have had a good working relationship with the city. Hopefully we are near the completion of our development and we can get back there,” the Harpurs wrote. “We are proud of what we have created for the community.”
Star Tribune
On the Wisconsin-Iowa border, the Mississippi River is eroding sacred Indigenous mounds
Bear and other members of her tribe are serving as consultants on the project, as is William Quackenbush, the tribal historic preservation officer for the Ho-Chunk Nation in Wisconsin, and his tribe. They also lead teams of volunteers to help care for the mounds, which includes removing invasive European plants and replacing them with native plants that reduce soil erosion.
Some are skeptical of this manmade solution to a manmade problem. There are some tribal partners who’ve expressed that the river should be allowed to keep flowing as it wants to, Oberreuter said. Snow also acknowledged that people have been hesitant about making such a change to the natural bank.
But, she pointed out, “The bank is (already) no longer what it was.”
When the berm is complete, Snow said, there’ll be a trail atop it that visitors can walk. That may help protect the mounds better than the current way to see them, which is to walk among them, she said.
The Sny Magill Unit has been part of Effigy Mounds National Monument since 1962, Snow said, but it’s not advertised like the rest of the park. That’s in part because there are no staff stationed there to properly guide people through the mounds. But if people visit respectfully, she believes it’s one of the best places to take in the mounds because it’s on a flat, walkable surface, unlike the rest of the park, which is on a blufftop.
Priore criticized his opponents’ stance on TCAAP. “On the one hand, you have two candidates, Kurt Weber and me, with a forward-thinking, fresh perspective and strategic vision,” he said, arguing others want to defer and delay the city’s long-term needs.
Priore listed his other priorities for the city as public safety, and comprehensive planning for more and better trails.
The most recent campaign finance reports do not cover the fall and show little raising or spending for any candidate. Priore’s report indicates he received $600 from Fabel’s campaign fund.
David Radziej was appointed to the Arden Hills City Council in 2022, and has been involved with the city for more than a decade through work on its Economic Development and Finance councils, as well as TCAAP planning groups. He lost a reelection bid in 2022.
In an interview, Radziej raised concerns that the new density limit for TCAAP is out of character for Arden Hills and said he fears adding housing units at the expense of commercial development will harm the city’s tax base.
“I’d like it to be developed. I’d like to hold harmless the current taxpayers,” he said in an interview.
Two months after getting a ticket for being on her phone while driving, a woman was on her phone again when struck a motorcyclist at an Anoka county intersection and killed him, according to a newly filed search warrant affidavit.
The crash occurred on Oct. 5 in Oak Grove at the intersection of Viking and Lake George boulevards NW., the Anoka County Sheriff’s Office said.
The Sheriff’s Office identified the motorcyclist who died at the scene as Kelly Matthew Linder, 49, of Albert Lea, Minn., and the SUV driver as Jessica Marie Pietrzak, 31, of St. Francis. Court records show that Pietrzak was ticketed in August by a St. Francis police officer for driving while on her phone.
According to state Department of Public Safety statistics, distracted driving was a factor in 132 traffic deaths in Minnesota from 2019 through 2023.
Linder was stopped shortly before noon on eastbound Viking Boulevard and waiting to turn left onto Lake George Boulevard when Pietrzak hit the motorcycle from behind, the Sheriff’s Office said.
A search warrant affidavit this week from the Anoka County Sheriff’s Office disclosed that a witness who stopped to help Pietrzak after the crash told law enforcement that Pietrzak said “she was not paying attention and had been on her phone.”
Then as more people stopped to help, Pietrzak “began telling people that the sun was in her eyes, and she did not see the motorcycle,” read the filing, which led to the court allowing investigators to collect data from her cellphone.
The filing pointed out that the sun at that time of the day was not in a position for it to affect her vision. Also, the filing continued, Pietrzak’s entire front windshield has a dark tint. She’s been ticketed twice for that dark windshield in recent years, according to court records.
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings