HomeMy WebLinkAboutThostenson letterMarch 9th, 2023
Unfortunately Lisa and I cannot be at the City Council meeting where our “after the fact” variance at
2815 Casco Point Rd in Orono is on the agenda. We have an extended family vacation at this time that
had been delayed twice due to COVID that is scheduled at the same time as the City Council meeting.
We thought it might be helpful to provide some background on the situation - although many of you
probably have heard about the tragic events.
Lisa and I purchased this property in April of 2022. The prior property owner pleaded for us to allow her
to rent back the property very short term as she did not have a new home to move to yet. She was
getting divorced - and her kids were coming home from college for the summer. This was not
something we wanted to do, but we reluctantly agreed, provided she move out as soon as humanly
possible.
We soon realized she was in no hurry; we were very frustrated and asked her repeatedly to leave. In
late July her kids had a bonfire that got out of control. There was a full gas can in the boat house that
acted as an accelerant to further fuel the fire. Thankfully, the fire department did a tremendous job in
putting out the fire and containing the fire to only our property. If it had not been contained, there
would be even more damage to the hill and the bluff. Obviously, this isn't something that we wanted on
our plate as new homeowners, but we continue to deal with all of this the best that we can.
As another point of background, we currently reside on Cooks Bay in Mound. We built this home and
truly have an appreciation for the lake and the amenities it provides and the care that is required of us
as homeowners to preserve this wonderful natural resource. In fact, we have planted well over three
dozen trees on our property and have done significant landscaping to protect the environment around
us and also to blend in with the neighbors on both sides. This is our 3rd lake home, and we love the life
that it offers us. We support community initiatives like Johnny and the Westonka Walleye Program
benefit with jewelry for the raffle at Back Channel every year to help stock walleyes within lake
Minnetonka as we truly believe in preserving this lake and everything about it. As we step back further
in time as a point of reference, I - Mark Thostenson grew up in Mound and am a 1978 graduate of
Westonka high school. And, for those of you that have a sweet tooth, I actually worked at the Navarre
Dairy Queen for five years in the late 70s. In fact, a number of classmates from high school lived in the
Casco Point area while growing up so I'm very familiar with the neighborhood.
We’re here for approval for an “after the fact variance” for the retaining wall that was destroyed by the
prior owners. Unfortunately, this has been a lose-lose proposition for us, but we're trying to remedy this
situation and make it better than it was prior to the fire.
Someone mentioned we should have “hand dug” the wall. The truth is the contractor did do much of
the most critical work by hand, with picks, shovels and 5 gal pails – to least disrupt and protect the most
critical slopes and areas. Some of the neighbors have been suggesting that we re-do the wall. That
would perpetuate the very thing that they have been complaining about – Again disturbing the soil,
which would be ridiculous.
I don’t believe people understand this situation was an EMERGENCY. Obviously, it never could have
been complete by the snowfall, and I can’t even imagine what a disaster we would have on our hands
with all the snow and rain we have had so far this winter. There were rotted timbers in the hill, and
there was not a proper drainage system in place. Along the way the landscapers felt it necessary to alter
slightly some of the timbers to compensate for the additional support that was required. Some of the
City’s staff had been out to the site and directed them to protect the bluff and trees to the full extent
possible. Had they just followed the plan exactly – we would not be in this situation. But we are
because neighbors were constantly on the job site begging the landscapers to save trees, and the City
staffers had also given that guidance. The engineer determined the changes in the walls were required
to protect the bluff post fire, with no foliage/landscaping and disturbed soils.
As we have watched and listened to our neighbors complain that we are not doing what they would like,
it has been rather brutal – as we asked for none of this. We are NOT here to disrupt or damage. We
have simply tried to put this back together before the hill goes into the lake. We are not landscapers.
That is why we hired a company familiar with working on the lake. They have a Structural Engineer that
has been overseeing and signing off on the entire project. We WANTED to do boulders instead of the
“in kind” solution – but the City would not give us permission without a lengthy variance application
process (even for an emergency….we asked), and we feared that there was simply no time as we’d be
risking the bluff.
The only reason the entire slope was not lost was the luck that we had no significant rainfall from the
date of the fire thru the design, permitting and construction process.
It was extremely difficult to recreate the walls as they were, not to mention expensive. And again – we
only did it this way because it was the only thing we could get permitted for without months of process
and we were dealing with an emergency.
In summary, we would like to thank all of the City staff that has helped us along in this journey. It is not
one that we would have chosen. We believe our contractor was trying to do the right thing with the
slight adjustments that were made – based on the guidance to protect the bluff and trees and the site
conditions experienced as work progressed. We certainly didn’t want them to dip in to our hardcover
percentage – as this definitely impacted what we had plans for as we still have to be under 25%. But
they felt it was needed, and the engineer agreed. We believe that the Planning Commission also agrees,
and we got their support at the meeting last month. We are really trying to do this the right way, and
look forward to restoring the foliage and the natural beauty of the bluff.
We respectfully ask that the City Council grant the variance and allow us to finish this wall.
Sincerely,
Mark and Lisa Thostenson