After 30 years of piling rocks and other decorations into creative formations on her front yard and boulevard, Iris Logan has scaled things back, under pressure from City Hall.

Logan, who lives on Sherburne Avenue in the Hamline-Midway neighborhood, came afoul this fall of a city inspector from the St. Paul Department of Safety and Inspections, who had ordered her to clear her boulevard of all structures. Logan appealed the order, drawing interest from a neighborhood organization, the Hamline-Midway Coalition, which rallied to her side.

The city legislative hearing officer “kept being concerned about the rocks around the tree, because she talked to some tree specialist,” said Logan on Thursday, who took a phone call from her boulevard. “I said don’t worry about it, I will remove the rocks. That’s what I’m working on now.”

Concerned about the potential impact on tree roots, utilities, passing snow plows and street cleaning equipment, a city legislative hearing officer initially gave Logan until Dec. 22 to remove all the boulevard items, which struck some advocates as excessive.

Appeal to city council

Logan’s appeal went before the St. Paul City Council on Wednesday. Legislative hearing officer Marcia Moermond told the council that she had met with Logan and a handful of other advocates, including Logan’s daughter and a representative of the Hamline-Midway Coalition, “good people with their hearts in the right place and their hands backing that up.”

Much of the clean-up is already complete, said Moermond, displaying overhead images of three remaining rock formations. Still, a new issue has presented itself. Heaps of soil beneath one section of Logan’s rock garden had been formed into a mound rising some 12 to 18 inches above the curb line. And the mound has to go.

“We’re all in agreement that six months is necessary,” Moermond said.

Based on Moermond’s recommendation, the city council on Wednesday agreed to give Logan until June 6 to regrade the mounded soil and complete the clean-up.

“That’s an extremely lot of work,” said Logan, in a phone interview Thursday. “If I have someone come in and scrape it all off now, I’m going to lose a lot of plants. I don’t know how froze the ground is underneath. They’re nit-picking me to death. I thought moving the rocks and all of that would suffice.”

Municipal code

Council Member Mitra Jalali told the council that her office had been inundated with public comments about Logan’s boulevard, but she had been unable to respond at length due to the quasi-judicial nature of the council’s role once an appeal has been filed.

“Our ordinance has very clear, broad language about items being in the boulevard” potentially interfering with street sweeping and utilities, Jalali said, noting that it’s not uncommon to receive requests for little free libraries or public art installations. “We do need to look to a more holistic way to address these situations,” she said.

The city’s municipal code currently prohibits placement of planter beds in the public right-of-way, though residents sometimes do it anyway. Council Member Chris Tolbert recently sponsored an ordinance amendment that would allow temporary and removable storage containers in the public right-of-way with a $20 encroachment permit, provided that the structure is no more than 12 inches tall. A public hearing is scheduled next Wednesday.

In addition, embedded within the council decision to give Logan until June 6 to regrade her boulevard is a promise to keep the discussion alive: “the appellant and select neighbors present for the council meeting will continue in conversation with the City Council and Legislative Hearing Officer on improved policies and enforcement procedures relating to boulevard plantings and landscaping.”

Related Articles

John Mannillo: Keep rules that require openness for sale of city property

In final budget vote, St. Paul council approves mayor’s plan to erase $100M in medical debt

St. Paul firefighter raises coming after arbitrator called in to settle contract

For 30 years, she built a garden of stone. St. Paul wants the boulevard cleared.

Obituary: Former St. Paul City Council Member Roberta ‘Bobbi’ Megard remembered for ‘tireless’ community work