As to equal treatment: where else in the C1 or C2 district is there a semi-permanent auxiliary building that was taken down; therefor requiring this one to be taken down to preserve equal treatment?
This exact same type of structure ,if not THE same structure was adjoining the hardware store for 15 years or more… long before Mr. Lansing was the Mayor. It was then treated as not a temporary, but an auxiliary structure, because of the nature of its supporting frame.

What has changed? That was then; this is now.

Kiffi, I did not call or say that Lansing was a criminal. All along, all I have said that if he or anyone else breaks the law then the consequenses of their actions should receive the same remedy under the law. Equal treatment — that is my point.

People should not be called criminals when there has been nothing adjudicated.

People should not apologize when the ‘wrong’ is in dispute.

People should not ******** (what Martha said ) when they are being harassed.

People should be disturbed, that what was a nice looking Christmas tree lot, with the white auxiliary building covered with garlands and bows and where you could go inside and get a tree that was not frozen and snowy, now is just an ordinary corner former gas station with a lot of very nice trees.

People should be concerned about who was pushing this so hard, who was so punitive, how was it so important to the city to have this gone, when the same kind of auxiliary structure provided a plant and C-mas tree facility at the hardware store, without interruption for 15 years!

People should understand that by NOT taking it down, regardless of whether it was right or wrong, the valid( ???) fine was already up to just under $8,000, and going up by hundreds of $$ a day.

Thanks, Lee, for the twelve years of beautiful ,fresh trees I’ve enjoyed from your business, ( including free delivery on a VERY cold day one year, and …

Happy Hanukah, a Joyous Kwanzaa, and a Merry Christmas to all.

I did find this licensing requirement, but I don’t think the issue has anything to do with it:
Sec. 14-34. Separate license for branch establishments.
A license shall be obtained in the manner prescribed in this article for each branch establishment or location of the business engaged in, as if each such branch establishment or location were a separate business, provided that warehouses and distributing plants used in connection with and incidental to a business licensed under any section of this article shall not be deemed to be a separate place of business or branch establishment.
(Code 1986, § 400:00(4))

Could you please cite the ordinance, number and subdivision, that you think is being “pesky’ for the Mayor?

You have a good point about the plant display from the old hardware store. I thought it was a pretty permanent part of the landscape there, and not detracting. I am assuming the structure was not grandfathered in to the new business location when the operation moved to the old Tires Plus site. Pesky things these little ordinances.

For the last twelve or so years, maybe longer, there has been a temporary building as part of the complex, as a matter of fact, for some years the same one being used now, and it has survived all manner of storms. That temporary building housed shade plants in the summer and additional Christmas Trees in the winter.

Around the corner, in the little house on sixth street, for several years we had a wonderful small “garden center” called Stone Creek Gardens; it sold seasonal merchandise, each in its own season, including Christmas trees. It was also a very positive contribution, an enhancement, of the downtown mix.

So what is the big ‘honking’ difference? Was it OK then… for both parties … and it isn’t now?
And why, SPECIFICALLY? The ’shelled’ C1/C2 zoning is actually more generous now than it was several years ago.

It looks like retail to me; things are bought from a wholesaler and resold to the public in a retail setting.

Is it that we’re so into total character assassination that if there’s a dead body in the street we have to make sure its dead by driving back and forth over it about fifty times?

If this has to do with LAW, then state it; if you’re just repeating hyperbole and calling actions ‘crimes’ before they’ve been adjudicated as such, spend some time reading the ordinances and come back with a substantive argument based on actual words and facts … and be ready to consider why “IT” was OK then, but “IT” isn’t now … same situation, same business person(s), different outcome.

kiffi summa …

A Faribault prosecutor will consider whether charges should be pursued against the mayor’s son for operating a business without a permit. Northfield city prosecutor Tim Morisette said Wednesday that negotiations with Mayor Lee Lansing, who has been representing his son, property owner David Lansing, have been unsuccessful, forcing Morisette to ask an unbiased party to look into the case.

I was away for the holiday. I spoke with Mayor Lee Lansing on Tuesday and he said he believed he would come to some kind of resolution with the city. He said he could give me more details later, but he never called back. It was my understanding from Mr. Olsen that the permit for the greenhouse structure was expired, not a permit for sales.

David Henson’s comment on decorating without a license really hit the spot. Thank you, thank you.

I checked this evening. Christmas Trees at Just Food will be available starting this Friday.