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HomeMy WebLinkAbout09/16/98 MINUTES OF THE LAKE ADVISORY COMMITTEE September 16, 1998 I. CALL TO ORDER The Lake Advisory Committee (LAC) was called to order by Chairman Kearney on Wednesday, September 16, 1998 at 6:53 p.m. Members present: Marianne Breitbach, Kate Haggerty, Tom Kearney and Paul Trapp. Others present: Councilmember Tom Kedrowski, Water Resources Coordinator Lani Leichty and Dale Braddy of the Prior Lake Association. Members absent: Doug Larson, Roger Soderstrom and Rick Warner. II. CONSIDER APPROVAL OF PREVIOUS MEETING MINUTES The first item on the agenda was to approve the August 19, 1998 meeting minutes. MOTION BY HAGGERTY, SECONDED BY TRAPP TO APPROVE THE MEETING MINUTES OF AUGUST 19, 1998. MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSL Y. Kearney passed out a copy of a letter addressed to the Watershed District from Nick Modders. The letter questioned the cause of the high lake levels during the summer months and whether they could have been avoided. III. COMPREHENSIVE LAKE MANAGEMENT PLAN (CLMP) The committee spent much of the evening discussing what approach to take in developing the CLMP. Kearney: How broad do we make this plan and where do we start? The state is the biggest hurdle. If we want to think about changing the normal water level on the lake we need to go to the state legislature along with the Watershed and DNR. Are these the types of issues we want to work on, or ones that are under Ctiy control? Leichty: The directives outline the issues for the LAC to address and it's up to us to decide where to go with them. Trapp: Layout the options and facts for each issue identified along with the associated costs. 16200 Eagle Creek Ave. S.E., Prior Lake, Minnesota 55372-1714 / Ph. (612) 447-4230 / Fax (612) 447-4245 AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER Haggerty: Kedrowski had mentioned to her earlier that the LAC should identify as many options as possible, even if we think they are outrageous and unfeasible. Kearney: We need to look at all the issues and the pros and cons associated with each. We need to set it out in black and white. Breitbach: We should lump our recommendations and findings all together in the report to Council. ' Kearney: A good start would be with an immediate plan, such as the revised outlet weir. One recommendation is to get the DNR involved in going around the shoreline to see what violations are occurring and how are they going to police it. Trapp: City could put in an ordinance about no new landscaping below a certain elevation on lakeshore lots to prevent sodding down to the waters edge. Kearney: It would be good to invite the DNR in, such as Pat Lynch, to explain what their regulations are and how they enforce them. The City could write an ordinance to compliment the DNR's, but the City would have the ability to enforce it. Trapp: Before an ordinance is drafted up, some survey work should be done first to see how many residents are in violation of DNR regulations around the ordinary high water level (904). Leichty: We should prioritize the issues that have been identified. Kearney: We should form as many options with the facts and what the associated costs are, give it to Council, without any recommendations. Breitbach: I would guess that the City would want to address the hot issues first, such as lake levels. Kearney: When should public input come in? Leichty: After a draft of our plan is done, we can announce a public informational meeting in the Prior Lake American to solicit public input. Trapp: Summarize all comments from our findings, addressing the questions brought up, and take this to Council. Leichty: We should list all facts, options and associated costs. Breitbach: Would we want to broadcast the public informational meeting on cable? Trapp: We need to address the issue of eurasian milfoil also in our plan. Kearney: Every issue needs to be brought up and mentioned. Trapp: Our priority subjects should have a category list with long term and short term issues listed. -~..._-_._,_.__._-_.._---,...~~.,---------'~-_..~....--'--~--------'---' Breitbach: Milfoil management would be a good short term issue, getting rid of septic systems on Spring Lake is a good long term issue. Kearney: The two most important issues currently are shoreline erosion and water levels. The City could adopt an ordinance addressing shoreline landscaping issues. Some of this is education of the public, what to do and what not to do in correctly protecting the shoreline. Currently the~e are no rules about what type of walls can be built, but a City ordinance could address this. Braddy: The Lake Association would like to help create a plan that would continue past our generation. It would be nice to have a lake manager to manage Prior Lake and go after federal and state grants to pour money into the lake. Leichty: The article, "Assessing Impacts of Motorized Watercraft on Lakes: Issues and Perceptions", talks about the negative impacts watercraft have on lake ecology. Prior Lake can't have it both ways, it can't be an environmental lake and a recreational lake at the same time. There will have to be trade offs to one or the other. Much discussion occurred about lake levels, shoreline erosion, outlet improvements, DNR and Watershed lake management prior to Councilmember Kedrowski arriving. Kedrowski: The LAC may want to talk to the Chief of Police about surface water enforcement before proceeding with this issue. If the LAC wants to address lake level issues there will have to be money spent to accomplish anything, ideas addressing the issues aren't free. Kearney: We intend on presenting the options and questions with the facts on each issue to Council. Kedrowski: Agrees with this, but the LAC should take it one step further and discuss the benefits and long term implications of the actions to be taken. The LAC should do the leg work first, getting public input first before going to Council with their report. A public informational meeting will give direction to the committee and help to shape the issues. Leichty: We are thinking of tackling a couple of these at a time instead of dealing with all issues at once. Kedrowski: If you do that, make sure that you make it clear to Council what you are doing, that you are trying to balance the issues. Leichty: The public can be notified through the Prior Lake American about the public informational meeting. Haggerty: Has the Watershed done any studies on the lake concerning the issues that we are addressing? Leichty: I will contact the District Engineer to see if they have done any recently. Kearney: One of the problems we have is shoreline erosion with no one enforcing the existing rules. Kedrowski: It's a matter of enforcement, unless something is done, the public won't think that anybody is going to say anything. This is a zoning & planning issue. Talk to Don Rye about enforcement. Leichty: What about our timeline for getting this to Council, do we want to shoot for a target date of May? Kearney: We should try to have our high priority issues, shoreline erosion and water levels, to Council by March. The public informational meeting(s) will be held during the winter. Leichty: I will invite Pat Lynch and Don Rye to the next LAC meeting. Haggerty: Do we want to prioritize the remaining issues? Trapp: We should address the issue of the number of docks. Kedrowski: Tackle what your doing, do the public info meetings, get it the way we want it and then bring it to Council. Be sure to outline the other issues and let Council know clearly what we are doing. Haggerty: Braddy, your suggestion of getting a Ph.D., with your connections would you be able to find out if it would be possible and what the cost would be to get someone from the university to study the lake? Braddy: My connections are with the University of Missouri, not with the University of Minnesota, but I can talk with them and find out what I can. Trapp: Someone getting a Landuse Planning, Landscape Architecture or similar type of degree would be a good candidate to do a comprehensive lake study. Breitbach: What is it that we would tell this person that we are trying to define? Kearney: Maybe someone could come up with some alternatives for some of the problems that we are facing. Leichty: Let's go back to our idea of surveying the community to find out what they see as the most important issues with the lake. Trapp: We could get a tally of citizens response. List the subjects and ask them if there are any other issues they are concerned about. Breitbach: On a lake their are so many different issues depending on the location, depth, configuration of the lake, wind patterns, etc. You need to do a lake survey that identifies the issues around the shoreline. Different areas of the lake may be managed differently depending on the situation. Haggerty: I think a survey is a good idea to get us started. Trapp: At least you would get all of the issues brought up in the beginning. Kearney: The residents should put down on the survey where they live in the community. Haggerty: If they would just put their street location down it would give us an idea where they live. Leichty: The survey would be targeted to the community as a whole. The questionnaire should include a question asking if the person lives on the lake and if so, where do they live. I will fax draft questionnaires to the members for review prior to sending it to the Prior Lake American. IV. NEW BUSINESS No new business was discussed. v. ADJOURNMENT MOTION BY TRAPP, SECONDED BY HAGGERTY TO ADJOURN THE MEETING AT 8:48 PM., MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSL Y. Respectfully submitted, l~~ lanai Leichty ~ Recording Secretary _,_,_,__,_,",__,__"__"",~_,_.,_",,_,_,,,_"~"_M__"~,__,,___,,_'~_-___'--"