Whistleblower: Improved, not solved

James Eli Shiffer, Star Tribune

The old Joe Baker Auto Service property.

Problem property no longer has 20 tons of rubbish, but it's not back on the Minneapolis tax rolls, either.

By JAMES ELI SHIFFER, Star Tribune

Last update: October 18, 2009 - 12:47 AM

In January, neighborhood frustration over junked cars and other eyesores prompted the Minneapolis City Council to declare Joe Baker's auto repair business a "municipal problem."

Since Whistleblower first reported on this unusual situation in January, pressure from the city and Hennepin County succeeded in prodding Baker to remove more than 20 tons of rubbish from the property on Como Avenue SE. But the former Joe Baker Auto Service -- owned by the state since May 2008 because Baker failed to pay his taxes -- has become a different kind of municipal problem.

Hennepin County paid $13,950 to a consultant to investigate whether there was a dangerous toxic mess left over from the property's 70 years as a service station and vehicle-repair lot. The study found some contamination underneath the site, but no health hazards. The consultant recommended no more studies.

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) took three months to make a decision: more study needed.

So the county paid the consultant up to $6,900 more to do additional investigation. The conclusion: site is safe. No more studies needed.

The consultant's report was submitted last week to the MPCA. Gary Zarling, an MPCA project manager, said it would take 90 to 120 days for his agency to decide whether to take the consultant's advice and close out the environmental investigation. The turnaround time has to do with the fact that his office handles 1,500 petroleum spill and leak investigations every year.

"If there was something we felt really urgent about it, we could do it more quickly than that," Zarling said.

The delays may have scuttled the county's best plan to unload the property. Baker had indicated a desire to buy back his property, paying back taxes and cleanup costs to do so. Gilbert Gabanski, who works in Hennepin County's environmental services department, said Baker showed his goodwill last winter by emptying his old service station of a mountain of junk, under county supervision, at his own expense. Baker hauled out two dead cars, 54 bicycles, 126 tires, a 250-gallon fuel tank and 2,500 pounds of starters and alternators, among other detritus.

The county hasn't heard from Baker since April, Gabanski said. Whistleblower couldn't reach Baker, either.

"We want to get this property back on the tax rolls, either repurchase by Mr. Baker, or at auction," Gabanski said. "The idea is to get this thing somewhere else."

Last week, the only debris on the once-crowded lot was a crushed carton from a case of Keystone Light beer. That's a real change from the years when the lot looked like a small-scale junkyard next to people's homes. No one complains about Joe Baker Auto Service to Council Member Cam Gordon anymore. But the property still doesn't house the coffee shop or florist that some neighbors would love to see among their stucco bungalows and duplexes.

"It's a site that ought to be redeveloped in some useful way," said Katie Fournier, livability committee chair with the Southeast Como Improvement Association. "At the moment, it's kind of a lost opportunity for both the community and whoever might want to do something."

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