It was at this point that CL residents learned that Mr. Yost sold the property that the entrance landscaping was on to Mr. Barr.
It was also at this point that Amoco announced its intent to build and open a gas station at the entrance (where the audio store now is). The Board engaged in discussions with the City of Duluth, Mr. Barr, and Amoco in an attempt to protect the neighborhood’s investment as well as CL homeowners’ rights.
Discussions took place over several months and the CL Board learned that no easement had been placed on the portion of the entrance with the landscaping and CL was left with no legal claim to the property or protection to the neighborhood’s years of investment in the landscaping.
The Board asked Mr. Yost to reimburse the expenditures on the landscaping but were unsuccessful in retrieving those funds. The Board contemplated legal action against Mr. Yost but ultimately decided not to pursue this course due to lack of funds.
At this same time, Mr. Barr had begun developing the strip mall that now includes Bogey’s. It was clear that a cut through the landscaping was forthcoming and that while CL might delay the action, at some point the battle to maintain the landscaping would be lost. At this point two decisions were made. Knowing that CL would eventually lose the landscaping to developers, the difficult decision was made to discontinue the costly maintenance to the entrance landscaping. This meant that the landscaping would begin to die and become unsightly, which it did. It was a difficult period of time for residents to see what had been a beautiful entrance deteriorate to such an unattractive state. The second decision was that the Board would partner with Mr. Scott Hudgens’ partner Mr. Bruce Williams (developer of the French Quarter) who is well known in the area for his high development standards. In exchange for the Board’s agreement not to fight the cut through on the opposite side of the road into the French Quarter, Mr. Williams agreed to support the Board’s proposed intersection redesign. The redesign introduced the median as a barrier that would prohibit large delivery trucks from successfully making the turn radius into the neighborhood from PIB. While it wouldn’t completely eliminate the possibility of large commercial vehicles (for example gas tanker trucks) accessing River Green Pkwy, it provided some measure of control over the ease of accessibility with which large vehicles could access the entrance and therefore the type of business that could be developed in that area.
Since River Green Pkwy on the CL side of PIB had never aligned properly with its connecting side on the other side of PIB, the entrance was not in compliance with City ordinances. The Board asked the City to re-engineer the entrance to the specifications provided in the redesign. This allowed for the streets to finally match up properly and for the creation of the median which would serve as a turn radius barrier. The City agreed to the request and repaved the entrance and installed the median which became city property. Verbal agreement was reached with the French Quarter to maintain the median while CL would pay for water and electricity (lights).
It was also agreed by all parties that CL could place a neighborhood sign at the entrance. The city granted access to the median for the purpose of sign installation. The board agreed to spend a minimal amount to landscape just around this sign for cosmetic purposes, and agreed to keep spending for maintenance at a minimum. The board requested and received financial assistance for the purchase and installation of the sign through the city’s Community Betterment Program.
Amoco announced that they no longer planned to open a station at our entrance and the City condemned the small strip that Mr. Yost had kept and sold it to Mr. Williams so that it could be developed as part of the French Quarter.
Between 2000 and 2005 – French Quarter was sold and the new owners did not agree to continue maintaining the median. Since the HOA is required to have the retention pond mowed regularly, the Board determined that mowing the sod that was on the median strip would be a minimal additional expense that would maintain a positive visual appearance to the neighborhood.
November, 2007 – The 2007 Board departed from previous boards’ policy of minimal expenditures on the median and installed landscaping throughout its full length.
May, 2008 – The 2008 Board requested and received permission from the city to maintain the median and put forward an amendment change of the covenants to residents to allow the use of HOA funds to maintain the city-owned median.
June, 2008 – A community meeting was held for the primary purpose of voting on the amendment change to allow the use of HOA funds to maintain the city-owned median. Unfortunately, not enough residents were in attendance for the amendment to pass. However, the voting portion of the meeting remains open to allow for continued voting from residents.
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