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Council members highlight housing, tree canopy questions and enforcement challenges
Summary
Councilmembers reported on recent events and concerns: Councilmember Whitlock described a popular butterfly event and an affordable-housing meeting focused on transit-oriented planning; Harkness noted ongoing tax-credit housing work; Whitlock raised questions about tree-canopy requirements; Graeder asked about loud mufflers and Chief Carruth said enforcement is difficult unless patterns are known.
Several councilmembers used the May 22 work session to report out on recent meetings and neighborhood concerns.
Councilmember Whitlock said a butterfly event drew strong attendance and described an affordable-housing meeting that emphasized planning housing near transit hubs and work opportunities and discussed conversion issues for multi-tenant single-family homes. Whitlock also asked whether Duluth has a tree-canopy percentage requirement after residents compared Duluth to Atlanta's 50% canopy standard; staff noted Duluth has tree-protection regulations but no canopy-percentage requirement.
Councilmember Harkness said he has one remaining class to complete a tax-credit housing certification and described his company's work on 14 housing conversions across nine states and two new builds. Councilmember Graeder said he had completed a negotiation class and asked the police chief about loud mufflers; Chief Carruth confirmed loud mufflers constitute a noise violation but said it is difficult to catch offenders unless they are known in a particular neighborhood.
Councilmember Thomas encouraged use of neighborhood platforms (Nextdoor) to surface resident concerns and noted positive public feedback about city communication and enforcement. She also described seeing a "playable" tree installation in Denver that is similar to an item chosen for Taylor Park.
Mayor Nancy Harris adjourned the meeting at 7:10 p.m.
