Complaints, cleanup and foreclosure in Shoreview

Through the four decades he's lived in the Shoreview home his father built, Wayne Olson has kept as many as three fish houses, six vehicles, three boats and two canoes in his back yard -- at the same time.

"I had three Citations!" he said, referring to the compact car Chevrolet made between 1980 and 1985.

But Olson also received several citations over the past several years for violating city ordinances that not even 700 feet of tall wooden fencing could conceal. Neighbors complained about the clutter, the city orchestrated two massive cleanups and then asked Olson to pay $58,000 -- the city's cost of clearing out the double lot in Olson's residential neighborhood.

Now Olson, 48, stands to lose more than just fish houses. He said the lending company that covered his cleanup fee raised his monthly mortgage payments by more than $2,000. In addition to gazing at a vacant back yard, Olson is staring at foreclosure. A Ramsey County sheriff's auction is scheduled for June.

Currently unemployed, Olson wonders why the city "is out to get me." When he first received a summons in 1999, he told Shoreview officials that he'd done nothing wrong, that as a Minnesotan, "having fish houses is part of my fabric."

Love thy neighbor

Said neighbor Donna Lundgren, who lives across the street: "It's his property. His family has been here a long time. If you don't like what you see, you shouldn't have moved into this neighborhood."

But city building inspector Steve Nelson said other neighbors grew impatient waiting for the cars to move on. It is a neighborhood where rust never sleeps -- and neighbors apparently grew tired of looking at it.

"He had cars sitting there so long that trees were growing through the engine compartments," Nelson said.

"I want to be sympathetic," he added. "There are people who can't part with junk cars. Collectors, I call them. These cars mean something to them that others just don't see."

When neighbors failed to see the beauty in Olson's vehicles, or a trailer filled with lumber, or fish houses, they complained. City attorney John Michael Miller became involved and a summons was delivered in August 1999. Olson argued at a hearing that his 6-foot-tall fence more than concealed anything that could be considered an eyesore.

Who covers the costs?

The city-orchestrated cleanups of his yard began a few years ago. Nelson said it would be unfair to ask citizens -- the very neighbors who complained -- to pay the cleanup fees. Olson, meanwhile, is miffed that Miller's law firm also happens to be the one handling his foreclosure.

It's just a coincidence, said Miller, who says Olson may have had as many as eight boats on his property at once.

Miller also emphasized that the city of Shoreview "is not taking any aggressive action" against Olson. But for Olson, who stares into an empty backyard encircled by the wooden fence, the walls seem to be closing quickly.

"They want me out of this neighborhood, where we've been since 1963," he said. "They've taken my cars, my boats, my fish houses. Now, they're trying to take away my rights."