Last spring, the Manitou Fund stepped in to save River Grove elementary school after it lost its lease at Wilder Forest in northern Washington County.
The White Bear Lake-based fund purchased the Zephyr Theatre building in downtown Stillwater for $2.5 million in June and submitted a plan to overhaul the property to make it suitable for an interim home for the school.
Construction on the building, now known as the Manitou Fund Education and Arts Center, is underway. Because River Grove is a public charter school, the plans had to be approved by the state, and the permit for buildout – with a listed valuation of $6.5 million – was issued on Sept. 1, said Tim Gladhill, Stillwater’s community development director.
The Manitou Fund Education and Arts Center won’t be ready for several weeks, so school officials and the Manitou Fund, which also owns Warner Nature Center in May Township, came up with a plan to place tents and portable toilets at Warner so the students at the school, which focuses on outdoor environmental education, could attend “field days” at the nature center in September and part of October. Visits to other sites such as other nature centers, museums and state parks also are scheduled.
May Township officials inspected the site at 15375 Norell Ave. on Aug. 25 and observed two tents on the property and learned that nine or 10 additional tents were planned to temporarily house an elementary school, township officials said.
Four days later, Jack Kramer, the township’s building official, sent a letter to Drew Goodson, the school’s executive director, issuing a “stop work order” based on the “unsafe building or structures” section of the state building code. “The temporary use of the tent structure shall cease and no further occupancy, construction or direction of additional tents are permitted until a legal permit is issued,” Kramer wrote.
Township Planner Nate Sparks followed up a few days later with a letter to Oliver Din, Manitou Fund’s president and chief executive officer. He explained that township officials during the site inspection saw that two tents had been erected on the property, and that a River Grove official had stated during the visit that “approximately nine or 10 additional tents (were) intended to be placed on the property.”
“It was stated that the purpose of the tents was to temporarily house an elementary school,” Sparks wrote. “The operation of an elementary school on this property would require a conditional-use permit. … The Town requests that no such activity take place that would be in violation of the terms of your permit.”
Officials from Manitou Fund and River Grove, known officially as Marine Area Community School, declined to comment.
‘No permit required’
An attorney for the Manitou Fund responded to the township on Sept. 10 that the fund is not temporarily housing an elementary school at the Warner Nature Center, but rather doing what has been done at Warner for five decades: “Inviting schools to the Warner Nature Center as an extension of their classroom education to learn about the natural environment.”
“This activity is expressly permitted under Manitou Fund’s (conditional use permit),” Brian Bell, a partner at Dorsey & Whitney, wrote in the letter. “Neither an amendment to the CUP nor any other permit is required for the planned field visits.”
Manitou Fund officials consented to a voluntary fire inspection of the property on Aug. 25 that was attended by Bell, Sparks, Din, Goodson, Kramer, Deputy State Fire Marshal Kevin McGinty and inspector Jake Lindquist, Bell wrote.
Goodson indicated at the site inspection that River Grove planned to start field visits to the property on Sept. 11, according to Bell. Kramer initially indicated a building permit was required for temporary tents Manitou Fund planned to put up, but after private discussions, “we were told that no building or fire permit was required,” Bell wrote.
“Despite assurances that no building permit is required … Kramer sent a Stop Work Order to River Grove,” Bell wrote. “The Stop Work Order claimed that a building permit was required to construct even temporary tents. The Stop Work Order further contended a site plan is needed that is prepared by a licensed design professional.”
Although Manitou Fund and River Grove officials disagreed a building permit was required, they spent the next week and a half working with an architect and preparing a building permit application and site plan, according to Bell.
“Then, at 5:30 p.m. on Friday September 8 — less than 72 hours before River Grove planned its first field visit to the Warner Nature Center — you sent the Zoning Letter,” Bell wrote in his five-page letter. “The Zoning Letter contended that River Grove was planning to hold school at the Warner Nature Center. The Zoning Letter claimed hosting a school at the Warner Nature Center violated the CUP. You also claimed that ‘any new structures, including temporary structures, erected on the site would require an amendment to the conditional use permit for the property.’”
Because River Grove’s activities at the Warner Nature Center comply with the CUP, no amendment to the CUP is required, Bell wrote. “Moreover, because the tents will be located at the Warner Nature Center for less than 180 days, no building permit is required,” according to Bell.
Hosting a school?
Township officials dispute the assertions laid out in Bell’s letter.
On Thursday, Sparks wrote to Bell that he was incorrect in stating that township officials had said “no building or fire permit was required” during the site visit on Aug. 25.
“At no point during the inspection did any representative from the Town of May state ‘no building or fire permit was required,’” Sparks wrote. “The use of the property for hosting a school is not permitted. Erecting temporary buildings and establishing temporary sanitary facilities would require an amendment to the conditional-use permit for the site. You should both confirm in writing and by inspections that the property is not hosting a school.”
May Township officials generally receive “advance planning and open communications” in its dealings with government and quasi-governmental agencies like schools and watershed districts “before attempting land-use changes,” Sparks wrote. “This is the way the Town is used to dealing with the Warner Nature Center. You are invited to discuss how that approach can and should be adopted here.
“The activities do affect the safety of students and the neighboring properties and violations should cease,” he wrote.
May Township Board Chairman John Pazlar said the township has a “vested interest in ensuring that the activity at the nature center aligns with town code and Warner’s CUP and, as importantly, provides a safe learning environment for the school children.”
“May Township has been a longtime supporter of River Grove Elementary, and will continue to work with the school and the permit holder to address these concerns,” he said.
According to River Grove’s “Field Site Proposal and Future Plans” submitted to the township, the school also is planning visits this semester to Bell Museum, Interstate State Park, Door County Adventure Center, William O’Brien State Park, Wildlife Science Center, Carpenter Nature Center and Crystal Caves.
River Grove lost its lease at the 600-acre Wilder Forest after Wilder Foundation officials announced plans to sell the property to the Minnesota Catholic Youth Partnership. MCYP officials last month withdrew their offer to purchase the land, and the property is back on the market, according to Wilder officials.