During a typical winter, city crews remove tons and tons of snow from downtown Duluth and other parts of town.
On Monday, the Duluth City Council engaged in a spirited discussion about where that snow should be stored.
Councilor Todd Fedora introduced a resolution that would grant the city a free hand to continue storing snow on harborside property that the Duluth Economic Development Authority owns next to the former Lafarge cement terminal, as well as at the former Atlas Cement site in Morgan Park.
City staff had identified another suitable site for snow storage, a seldom-used parking lot at Spirit Mountain. But transporting snow to that location instead of the established site near Bayfront Park probably would add $86,000 to $136,000 to the cost of snow removal, said Dave Montgomery, chief administrative officer for the city of Duluth.
Given potential cuts in state aid the city is likely to face, Fedora advised against using the Spirit Mountain site, even though it was farther from Lake Superior. He pointed out that $80,000 could mean the difference between the city keeping or losing a full-time employee.
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Councilor Jim Stauber said the city administration had pledged last year to come up with an alternative to storing snow at the harborside location it has used in the past. He expressed frustration with the administration for not offering a better solution than Spirit Mountain.
"They were supposed to find a site that was environmentally safe and economical, but they failed on both counts," he said.
Stauber said the options presented Monday put councilors "between a rock and a hard place."
"We're either anti-environment because we're willing to dump all this crap in the lake, or we're anti-taxpayer because we're willing to pay $80,000 to $120,000 to haul it up the hill," he said.
Montgomery said the city had explored seven alternative sites, and the Atlas and Spirit Mountain properties were the only places deemed suitable for snow storage.
Fedora also referenced an e-mail he had received from John Thomas, a compliance and enforcement officer for the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. It read "Nuisance conditions likely do not result from the stockpiling of snow at the current site, since the site generally meets basic MPCA recommendations."
Montgomery said melt-off will ultimately carry most of Duluth's road salt to Lake Superior, regardless of where snow is piled. He also pointed out that a berm surrounding the snow pile serves to keep trash swept up in city snow from entering the lake.
Fedora said this addresses a primary concern of the MPCA.
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"They seem to be most worried about things like bubble gum wrappers, mufflers and cigarette butts washing into the lake," he said.
Montgomery said staff picks up trash each year near Bayfront after impounded snow has melted away.
The council voted 8-1 Monday in favor of a resolution allowing the city to continue to dump snow at water's edge, as it has in years past. Stauber was the only dissenter.
