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Serpent Lake LID divides board CROW WING COUNTY BOARD Senior Reporter An outspoken and divided Crow Wing County Board split Thursday and took steps to deny a petition for a lake improvement district on Serpent Lake in Crosby.
Residents packed the board room for a lengthy public hearing with those in favor and those against the petition. The lake improvement district, or LID, proposed raising $13,500 per year to use for water quality management and, in particular, to control invasive plants - curly-leaf pondweed and purple loosestrife. The plan called for lakeshore property owners to pay $50 per year for the effort. The board voted 3-2 to direct staff to gather information to deny the petition, with Commissioners Rosemary Franzen and Rachel Reabe Nystrom opposed.
Commissioner Paul Thiede proposed the denial of the petition and suggested rescheduling a public hearing in the spring or summer. Earlier this year, the board approved LID petitions on Sibley and Kimble lakes but did discuss a move to have the public hearings at a time that allowed more seasonal residents to attend. However, those attending the Thursday meeting said a vast majority of Serpent Lake property owners are year-round residents.
Clark Marshall, president of the Serpent Lake Association, said he hoped the merits of the district's proposal would rise above procedural problems.
Marshall said the increasing costs of improving water quality are sapping the lake association. He said creating a lake improvement district is a way to share both the costs and benefits of a healthy lake with all lakeshore residents. Invasive species weed beds were reported to be so thick earlier boats could not pass through them. Marshall said the work thus far to control curly-leaf pondweed has been successful but continued funding is an issue.
Commissioner Dewey Tautges said he commended the people for wanting to protect the lake, but he questioned how costs are adding up as residents also will be paying $50 or $60 per year for the recently passed Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment.
"It's this constant creep that really bothers me - more, more, more," Tautges said. "It's a problem for me."
Thiede and Commissioner Doug Houge both said the public waters of the lake are used and enjoyed by more people than the lakeshore property owners. Houge said as more LIDs are formed it takes the pressure to respond off the DNR.
"We are placing the burden on private landowners for public use waters," Houge said. "I'm really struggling with that. ... I just feel there are better ways to fund this issue ... putting that burden on just riparian lot owners I don't think is the answer."
Nystrom said she supported the LID with the addition that any proposed cost increase would have to come back to the county board. "The DNR should be doing this," she said. "These are public waters and yet if we wait for them to take action there will be so much aquatic vegetation that the Israelites could walk across Serpent Lake."
The LID organizers started the process in the summer. Franzen said the group did everything that was required of them. There are 296 property owners on Serpent Lake and the county auditor's office verified 150 signatures on the petition, which met the required 51 percent. The county has about eight lake improvement districts now in place. A petition with a majority would be needed to dissolve the district.
"To put this off I think is ridiculous," Nystrom said, adding she didn't think it was fair to change the requirements in midstream. Thiede said the vote Thursday doesn't slam the door on the petitioners.
While the board has talked about having LID public hearings solely in the spring or summer, Franzen said no such policy is in place now.
"This group of people shouldn't be the poster child for this policy," Franzen said. "These people want to save their lake. We can't force the DNR to save their lake."
When Franzen said she was willing to defer to Houge, as the lake is in his district, Thiede said he was troubled by those comments and the burden it put on Houge. Franzen replied normally a deference is given to the district's commissioner. "But you've pushed me to that point I will not do that," Franzen said. "... I'm going to change my mind. If you don't want me to defer like we normally do, I won't."
A Crosby man spoke in favor of a requirement for a summer public hearing and he was opposed to the creation of an open-ended taxing authority. Others opposed to the district said not everyone who signed the petition realized the cost would be ongoing for years in the future. Supporters praised the volunteer lake association's work to date and said protecting the lake benefited both property value and tourism in the area.
RENEE RICHARDSON may be reached at renee.richardson@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5852.
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