Resident asks city to relocate weed harvester and enforce conditional-use screening

Forest Lake — During the council’s public comment period, resident and former council member June Dufour asked the city to move a weed harvester parked at a Beach Drive access that she said impedes a one-way-in, one-way-out neighborhood, and urged enforcement of a conditional-use permit screening requirement for property owned by Ben Winnick.

Dufour, who gave her address for the record, said neighbors rely on the access and that the harvester has been parked in the same location this year and last year. She asked staff to consider relocating the equipment to a dead-end street or another location so neighborhood access is not impeded.

On the Winnick property, Dufour said a conditional-use permit issued around 2013 required trees to be planted as screening and that the property owner had not maintained the plantings. “He promised to put trees up around the barrier of the property as a screening, and he's never done that,” she said, adding that plantings died and were not replaced.

Staff responded that the harvester location is chosen for operational reasons — suitable water depth and vehicle access — and that staff would revisit the location and follow up with Dufour. City staff said the Woodland Drive location used in prior years is no longer available after a sale. The council did not take immediate action; staff said they would look into the harvester placement and the Winnick conditional-use compliance.