Monday, July 28, 2025
HomeBusinessTownhome Development in Grand Marais Stumbles Before City Council

Townhome Development in Grand Marais Stumbles Before City Council

Four weeks ago, we reported that Björkberg Grand Marais, LLC was seeking final city council approval for a Condi­tional Use Permit (CUP) to build a 19-unit townhouse de­velopment that would include five income-qualified homes. The term “income-qualified” is often confused with “afford­able housing.”

The council voted 3-2 to deny the CUP at its public meeting on August 14, even though the city staff and the planning commission deter­mined the requested CUP met city requirements. The plan­ning commission approved the CUP.

In addition to purchasing its property, Björkberg has in­vested over $200,000 in sur­veys, design, and legal work to create a common-interest community, often called a homeowners association.

The developer removed the accessory dwelling units (ADUs) from the plan before the council meeting on the 14th.

Without the CUP, Björk­berg’s developers, Jon Petters and Steve Peterson, are re­grouping. They plan to devel­op single-family housing on the 21 lots the property con­tains, which will not require CUPs but simply building per­mits.

Petters and Peterson issued the following statement:

“While we are disappoint­ed that our project, Björkberg was turned down by the City of Grand Marais, we respect that [sic] the public process which has happened. Income Qualified for sale homes most likely are gone. That’s sad for the community. It brings up a lot of questions for developers like Björkberg and other orga­nizations that tried to make it happen.

All we want now is the abili­ty to hook up to city water and sewer and do what everybody else can do, follow the ordi­nances that the City wrote and build some homes. We have never wanted any neighbors to pay for our utilities and we pay for them ourselves.”

The council is meeting to formalize its denial of the Björkberg CUP on Wednes­day, August 28.

Steve Fernlund
Steve Fernlund
Columnist Steve Fernlund is a retired business owner living in Duluth. He published the Cook County News Herald in Grand Marais at the end of the last century. You may email comments or North Shore news story ideas to him at steve.fernlund@gmail.com. And see more at www.stevefernlund.com.
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