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Mediation Ends Keillor's Feud with nNeighbor
I am almost ashamed to be Garrison Keillor's fan....
Mediation ends Keillor's feud with neighbor
Terms of a settlement over his next-door neighbor's plan to add a two-story garage and studio have not been disclosed.
Garrison Keillor has settled his dispute with a next-door neighbor over the neighbor's plan to add a
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hat the structure might now look like, however, was unclear Tuesday.
The neighbors went into mediation after Keillor and his wife, Jenny Lind Nilsson, filed suit last week to stop Lori Anderson from building a two-story addition behind her house The addition was to include a three-stall garage and studio.
The parties negotiated the settlement Monday during a mediation session with former Minnesota Supreme Court justice Edward Stringer.
A hearing that was to be held today has been canceled, and the Keillor-Nilsson lawsuit is to be dismissed, said Josh Knudsen, a clerk for Ramsey County District Judge Edward Cleary, who had urged the parties last week to mediate the dispute.
By judge's order, terms of the settlement were not to be disclosed, said Paul Olson, Anderson's fianceé.
Keillor also would have no comment, spokesman David O'Neill said.
Last week's lawsuit claimed the garage/studio in the 400 block of Portland Avenue would "obstruct the access of light and air to the Nilsson-Keillor property" and "impair or destroy protected historical resources" in the Ramsey Hill neighborhood.
The city also was named a defendant.
City Attorney John Choi said he did not know details of the settlement but said any agreement about a redesign of the garage/studio must be reviewed by city staff and/or the Heritage Preservation Commission.
Asked whether Anderson would be coming forward with new building plans, Olson, her fiancé, held firm to the confidentiality order: "I can't comment."
Anthony Lonetree • 651-298-1545
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Jan. 16: Keillor's clash with neighbors over garage sent to a mediator
A courtroom clash over a Ramsey Hill garage that's drawn opposition from next-door neighbor Garrison Keillor was put off Tuesday in hopes a mediator could help resolve the St. Paul neighborhood dispute.
Ramsey County District Judge Edward Cleary announced the mediation at a hearing where Keillor was going to seek a temporary restraining order barring construction of the three-stall garage and studio behind the home of neighbor Lori Anderson.
The two sides were given until Jan. 23 to try to settle differences over the project, which earlier had been approved by the city's Heritage Preservation Commission.
On Monday, Keillor and his wife, Jenny Lind Nilsson, filed suit to block the two-story addition in the 400 block of Portland Avenue. On Tuesday, the "Prairie Home Companion" host showed up in court, along with legal representatives. Anderson and her fiancé, Paul Olson, attended without a lawyer.
Olson said afterward that the judge's proposal seemed a fair way to resolve the conflict, and the couple looked forward to mediation.
ANTHONY LONETREE
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Jan. 15: Keillor sues neighbor to block addition
In a lawsuit filed Monday, the "Prairie Home Companion" host says that a two-story addition next door would block access to light and air.
The Lutherans of Lake Wobegon would most likely fume in silence, but Garrison Keillor, creator of the fictional town and among St. Paul's most famous citizens, isn't being quite so quiet.
Keillor and his wife, Jenny Lind Nilsson, are suing their next-door neighbor, Lori Anderson, to stop her from building a two-story addition to her home that would include a three-stall garage and studio.
The lawsuit, filed Monday in Ramsey County District Court, claims the addition would "obstruct the access of light and air to the Nilsson-Keillor property" and "impair or destroy protected historical resources."
Both homes in the 400 block of Portland Avenue are within the Ramsey Hill historic district.
The complaint also said the project would obstruct their view "of open space and beyond" and possibly hurt property value. The estimated market value a year ago for Keillor's home was about $1.2 million, according to property tax records; Anderson's was about $600,000.
The city also is named a defendant in the documents, which said Keillor and his wife were not notified of public hearings before a zoning variance was approved and the project was OK'd by the Heritage Preservation Commission.
'We were heartsick'
Anderson, who has owned her home since 1999 and lives there with fiancé Paul Olson, said Monday that Keillor and his wife have been good neighbors and that she is wary of offending them.
"We were heartsick," Anderson said of learning about the suit.
Olson said when he and Anderson decided to marry, they realized their one-car garage wasn't big enough. Even before they hired an architect, the couple said they talked to neighbors. They planned to build three stalls, a storage area and a mudroom on the first floor and a studio for Anderson's business on the second. The addition would be a few feet lower than the existing home and would be attached to the rear.
The project would add about 1,900 finished and unfinished square feet to the home, which now has 2,124 finished square feet. The Keillor-Nilsson home has 5,168 finished square feet, according to tax records.
Anderson and Olson received a zoning variance for a 23-foot rear-yard setback rather than the standard 25 feet and conditional approval from the Heritage Preservation Commission, pending final approval of the plans.
The nine-page complaint filed by Keillor and his wife claims "the city's decision to grant ... Anderson's variance is arbitrary and capricious."
City Attorney John Choi said Monday that "we have reviewed the plaintiffs' allegations in the complaint and find them to be without merit. It is our position that the city, Board of Zoning Appeals and the Heritage Preservation Commission acted in compliance with the law and within our legal discretion."
Olson said Monday that Keillor and his wife "couldn't have cared less" when Anderson told them they were building a bigger garage.
"He's a busy guy," Olson said. "We didn't feel obligated to include him in the planning."
Objections over e-mail
Olson said he and Anderson were on vacation in New Zealand when they received "an angry e-mail" from Keillor on Nov. 29. The e-mail accused Anderson and Olson of building "a carriage house" and said, "If we had known, we would have been horrified. ... Neighbors do not deal with neighbors the way you dealt with us."
Anderson and Olson cut short their vacation and returned home, hoping to talk to Keillor and Nilsson.
"We wrote them a very conciliatory e-mail to say we'll do anything we can to work it out," Anderson said. "They refused to talk to us."
Anderson said she and Olson voluntarily stopped construction and asked their contractor to draw up two alternative sets of plans to try to accommodate their neighbors.
Olson said they offered to sell Keillor and Nilsson some land -- Anderson's house is on 1½ lots -- and to obtain an easement. All they want, Olson said, is to be reimbursed for the $50,000 they have already invested in the project.
Matthew Seltzer, attorney for Keillor and Nilsson, would not comment Monday. He referred calls to Keillor's spokesman David O'Neill, who read a statement from Keillor:
"My wife and I live in a historic St. Paul house in a historic neighborhood, and this gives us an obligation to defend the house and the neighborhood against violations of the beauty of Ramsey Hill," it said.
"A two-story stucco addition eight feet from the western wall of our house is a violation of it."
O'Neill said Keillor would not be available to comment.
Keillor's complaint asks for the court to declare the zoning variance null and void, bar construction of the addition and grant the plaintiffs' costs, expenses and attorney's fees.
As for Anderson and Olson, they want Keillor's request for a temporary restraining order to be denied in court today.
"We just wish they would have talked to us before filing a suit. We just didn't think they cared," Anderson said
Pat Pheifer • 651-298-1551
SOURCE: StarTribune.com