HUBBARD092007

Hubbard, rebuffed again on St. Croix mansion, not giving up

Last update: September 19, 2007 - 9:07 PM

An attempt by KSTP broadcasting executive Rob Hubbard to build a 16,000-square-foot mansion on the St. Croix River was rebuffed again this week, but Hubbard said he's not ready to give up the fight.

"We absolutely may appeal," Hubbard said Wednesday, a day after Commissioner Mark Holsten of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources upheld an administrative law judge's ruling that the DNR acted properly in June when it rejected Hubbard's request for variances.

Hubbard has tried for more than a year for approval to build a house in Lakeland, in Washington County. He bought the 3.8-acre property for $1.6 million in April 2006, county records show. He proposes to demolish a small 1950s-era cottage on the site and build the new structure on the cottage's foundation. But St. Croix River rules and Lakeland ordinances require that new houses be built farther from the river.

Environmentalists have seized on Hubbard's proposal as an example of how giant houses threaten the St. Croix, which the federal government has designated as a Wild and Scenic River and which is subject to many laws and regulations. However, Hubbard has argued that his new house would improve the property.

"We're just very frustrated with every step," he said Wednesday. "We now hit a point where we can get it into the real legal system."

Molly Shodeen, a DNR area hydrologist who works on St. Croix matters, said the next legal step would be the Minnesota Court of Appeals.

KEVIN GILES