| 11/18/2009 | Email this article • Print this article | Maplewood moving forward with wetland ordinance update
Tensions flare among council members
Derrick Knutson
Review staff
Updating a city ordinance on wetland classifications might not often be a topic that raises the ire of council members and residents, but that was the case Nov. 9 in Maplewood.
The City Council spent about an hour-and-a-half conducting a hearing on the first reading of the proposed ordinance - an ordinance that hasn't been rewritten since 1995.
City Planner Shann Finwall said numerous additions and omissions of language had been made to the current ordinance since it was first written, making it difficult to understand.
City staff members and resident Sharon Sandeen, who used to work for the California Legislature and has over 30 years of experience drafting legal documents, have been working for months to make the ordinance more comprehensible from a layman's perspective. They said a total rewrite was necessary to make the wetland ordinance understandable.
Sandeen had drafted her own ordinance, and city employees have been working with her to combine aspects of her draft and a city draft to form the new ordinance.
The council's objective Monday night was to approve the first reading of the ordinance and establish a date for a second reading at which the proposed ordinance would be approved or denied.
Before that happened, residents strode up to the lectern in the council chambers to voice their opinions about the retooled ordinance.
Residents wondering about wetlands
One of those residents was John Wykoff, who is actively advocating the south "leg" of Maplewood break away from the rest of the city and form a separate municipality. He wasn't shy about that fact when he approached the podium to share his views on the proposed ordinance.
Before he began speaking, he placed a white sign with black lettering on the podium that was roughly 3 feet wide and 2 feet high. The sign read, "John Wykoff secede from Maplewood," plus a phone number at which residents could reach him.
Wykoff had already displayed the sign at the beginning of the meeting when he spoke during the visitor presentations portion of the council meeting.
"I'm going to put my sign back up here, because I believe that every time we talk about the wetlands we're just taking a little bit more and a little bit more of our property rights, and we're enforcing more and more of (the council members') opinions on what they think we should do with our property," Wykoff said. "Leave us alone."
Council member Kathy Juenemann, who was serving as acting mayor because Mayor Diana Longrie was running late to the meeting, asked Wykoff if he had anything specific to say about ordinance.
"I don't like it," he responded.
Resident Linda Bryan didn't have quite the negative view about the ordinance like Wykoff did.
She told city officials that the new draft is more readable and it makes more sense, but she added, in her opinion, more clarification is needed before a final version of the wetlands ordinance is brought before the council.
Meanwhile, resident Mark Bradley said wildlife should be taken into account when it comes to drafting the new ordinance.
"Maybe I'm, in my level, not really comprehending, but I would have liked to have seen something said on the wildlife (in the draft) as well the rest because in the case of fish and birds ... you're looking at a situation, and it can affect you more or less, depending on the property you're talking about," he said.
Juenemann explained the issue did go before the city's environmental and natural resources commission on more than one occasion, and there have been discussions about habitat value and protection.
A heated exchange
Four more people also spoke before the public comment period on the draft ordinance was closed. One was North St. Paul resident Bob Zick, who thought the public had not been adequately notified about the first reading of the ordinance. Council member Erik Hjelle also brought up the same point during the meeting.
City Attorney Alan Kantrud said a notice had been printed in the Maplewood Review and information about the meeting had been posted on the city's Web site.
Zick continued his comments, and when council member John Nephew started to say something about the proposed ordinance, it quickly elicited an apoplectic display from Hjelle.
"Were you recognized to talk?" Hjelle said to Nephew. "Shut up!"
Council member Will Rossbach, frustrated with the angry interruption, then interjected, "Why don't you just quit now, Erik?" His response referred to Hjelle's council term, which will expire at the end of December.
Juenemann then tried to keep the peace by saying, "Boys, please."
"I'm sick and tired of you telling me to shut up, so screw yourself," Hjelle responded, directing his comment toward mayor-elect Rossbach. "I'm not putting up with it anymore."
The exchange continued with Rossbach finally telling Hjelle "goodbye," and Juenemann warning Hjelle that she would have to ask him to leave if he "kept talking like that."
Shortly after the fiery exchange, Longrie entered the room and took Juenemann's vacated seat since, in her role as acting mayor, she was at the head of the council dais.
Longrie said she had been listening to as much of the meeting as she could hear over her cell phone, and thought Bryan's comment about the ordinance needing to be more specific was worthwhile.
She also remarked that this was a first reading of the ordinance, and upon second reading the ordinance "becomes law."
When it came time to vote on approving the first reading and setting a date for the second reading, the council voted 3-2 to do so, with Nephew, Rossbach and Juenemann voting in favor. Hjelle and Longrie dissented. The mayor explained that she could not vote to approve the first reading because she had not heard enough of the discussion on her cell phone while driving to City Hall.
The council then decided the second reading of the wetlands ordinance would tentatively take place Dec. 14.
Derrick Knutson can be reached at dknutson@lillienews.com or at (651) 748-7825.
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