TS Dock And Lift Owner Addresses City Council About Building Permit Concerns

TS Dock and Lift owner Todd Simison addresses the Detroit Lakes City Council on February 14th, 2023 (Photo: KDLM)

DETROIT LAKES, MN (KDLM) – The Detroit Lakes City Council held its monthly meeting last night. During the public forum, concerns were brought up about the inconsistent steps and ever-moving hoops needed to jump through to receive building permits, specifically for business owners, in the city.

Todd Simison owns TS Dock and Lift on Highway 10, and initially was denied access to speak at the public forum where he says he had extraordinary hurdles to jump through with the Community Development Office to get permits to add an addition to his storefront property.

Simison was allowed to address the council after his notes were reviewed by a city staff member.

“Not only is it my opinion, but I’ve talked to other business owners in town that have had similar problems that we’ve had. And potential business owners that wanted to open a business in town but gave up on the process,” said Simison. “I guess I’m concerned if other people who want to invest in our city have to go through the same processes that we did, we might lose investors and new businesses.”

Simison detailed the process he underwent with the Community Development office, from the beginning steps of meeting with Community Development office director Larry Remmen.

“We were told initially that things looked pretty good from the blueprints,” explained Simison. “But we would have to go online and fill out an application. We filled out the paperwork and I would say about ten minutes later we got a call from the city (Remmen) saying that our application was denied due to an impervious surface issue.”

Simison says that Remmen then suggested hiring a local surveying company to help figure out the green space concerns. Then Simison was advised to hire an engineering firm to draft a drainage plan. The combined plans would have cost Simison around $27,000.

“I do know this for sure: if I had to go through this whole thing when I first started my business 28 years ago, I would have been broke before I could open my doors,” said Simison.

It was after all this that Simison learned that all TS Dock and Lift had to do was measure the size and depths of their ponds and the area of grass between the new addition and the road. After doing so, TS Dock and Lift met the measurement requirements and, as an established business,  could be grandfathered in at the old measurements and old laws.

The day that Simison received the permit for his building expansion, he was contacted by the Community Development office again, saying that TS Dock and Lift wouldn’t be able to store boat lifts on their green space, as they qualify as an impervious surface.

“Impervious surfaces…” explained Simison. “…are defined as asphalt, concrete, brick, and stone that eliminate rainwater infiltration and natural groundwater recharge. I don’t feel that a boat lift meets the definition of an impervious surface. We were also told that Remmen would be randomly stopping by and keeping a close eye on us to make sure that we were not breaking any green space rules. That felt threatening.”

Ultimately, Simison says his goal in bringing these issues to the council is to make Detroit Lakes a better place to start a business.

“The communities around us are growing and adding some great, unique businesses. I love this city. I love working here. I love being a part of this community,” Simison concluded. “But I feel like we can do better and be better for local businesses.”