River Walk West development seeks city land on trail in Riverside neighborhood
The view looking out to the St. Louis River from land the could become part of the River Walk West development.
On the Duluth City Council agenda for a first reading on July 12 is an ordinance authorizing the sale of city property in the upper Riverside neighborhood between Spirit Mountain and the U.S. Forestry Department’s Superior National Forest headquarters.
The buyer, Spirit Valley Land Co., plans to develop the area, which surrounds a popular Grant-in-Aid trail.
Also on the agenda for a first reading is an ordinance to convey additional upper Riverside property to the state to allow for its future sale to Spirit Valley Land.
Where exactly is this land? In the map above, Spirit Mountain’s ski runs are in the section with the green line around it. The blocks of land up for sale are marked in blue. That is, if this old map is still accurate.
To check it out in person, find where Gogebic Street intersects the trail, then go east. It’s a very nice area, with at least one spot that has a phenomenal view of St. Louis Bay, Clough Island and Spirit Island.
This little marmot likes it there.
The developers already own some land in the trail area, and also below Grand Avenue. From what I’ve been told, plans are vague at this time, but the front man for the development group, Brad Johnson, loves the outdoors and isn’t going to disturb the trail, but intends to put some tasteful log cabin town homes in the vicinity.
That being said, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of information available about this to the general public — what with city land involved — although various groups like the Spirit Valley Citizens & Neighborhood Development Association, the Riverside Community Center and Spirit Mountain board are aware of the plans.
So I’ll do my best to get some answers to as many questions as I can think of and update this post as I go.
1) Who are the people involved in this development? One name I’ve heard thrown around is hotelier David Goldberg. (He owns the Country Inn on Haines Road, the AmericInn in Proctor, and motels in Iowa and Michigan, as well as the manufactured home company Easy Housing and the manufactured-home communities Vintage Acres and Zenith Terrace.) Also involved are Pete Lukovsky and Mark and Keith Youngren, who own land in the area.
2) What will become of the frequently used Grant-in-Aid trail? According to the ordinance, the city is reserving “an easement for utility and trail purposes over, across and under the northerly 50 feet of the former Duluth, Winnipeg and Pacific Railway, as measured from the centerline of said rail line.” So, it sounds like the trail will stay, but it will have a little less woods and few more homes along it.
3) What about all the little foot trails out there? Will the general public still get to use them? Probably.
4) What did people have to say about this area during the comprehensive planning process and zoning code discussions? Did they feel, as is stated in the ordinance, that this land is “surplus to the city’s future needs”? Or is it valuable green space?
5) Has the city of Duluth really done anything since the Honking House debacle to make clear to its citizens what land is protected and what land is for sale? Should the media help sort this out a bit?
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10 Comments
Sam
about 14 years agoLoki
about 14 years agoSonya
about 14 years agoSonya
about 14 years agoNick L
about 14 years agoPaul Lundgren
about 14 years agoI had a short chat on the phone today with Brad Johnson, the front man of the development group, and hope to speak to him in greater detail later. He confirmed that the trail would remain in basically the same spot and would be improved as part of the development. "We've agreed that we'll provide a Level III trail through there," he said. "We've had the engineers look at how to do it and we've provided documentation showing where it would be. The agreements with the city are very specific that we have to complete this." He said his group has the right to relocate the trail within 50 feet of the centerline of the current trail, so apparently the trail couldn't be moved very far. "We're granting back an equivalent of the trail easement all the way along there," he said. "So there really is no change in the overall potential of that trail, it's just that we've agreed to make the improvements. It'll start at Spirit Mountain and end at Gogebic, which is about 3,200 feet." "If you go there now it's washed away," he said of the trail. "There are three major gullies that run through there. Unless you're careful (on the trail) you could disappear." He's right about that:
He said the new housing to be developed would be on the south side of the trail, not up the hill. An access road would be developed off of Gogebic, parallel to the trail.
Johnson noted there is no north-south connection between the Western Waterfront Trail, Munger Trail, Superior Hiking Trail and the Grant-in-Aid trail, and he hopes to establish that with the development.
"We came up with a complete trail connectivity plan for that whole area," he said. "One of the keys to our long-term plan is that trails make the project. So we're very concerned about that."
He said a new trail would be created off the Western Waterfront Trail at Tallas Island, through the development, across Grand Avenue and up the hill to connect to the other trails.Resol
about 14 years agoPaul Lundgren
about 14 years agoPaul Lundgren
about 14 years agoPaul Lundgren
about 14 years ago