News 2008

Minnesota Pollution Control Agency

Ten Mile Lake 2008 Report (Final)

This report is a summary of the MPCA's work on Ten Mile Lake this past summer as part of the SLICE program.

Click on the image below to download the report in Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) format.

Happy Anniversary!

Kenneth & Janice Regner celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. Ken and Jan were married on September 6th, 1958, at St. Augustine Church in Austin. They celebrated with their children, grandchildren and a great grandson.

Information provided by Kelly Lady

CSAH 71 Ribbon Cutting Celebration

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Click here for information in .pdf format.

TEN MILE LAKE ASSOCIATION

LAKE MANAGEMENT PLAN 2007-2009

FINAL AUGUST 2007

(click on the image to open the .pdf file)

Section 1116 Revision

Published 5/30/2008

The Board of Directors of the Ten Mile Lake Association, in our Board Meeting on May 17, 2008, unanimously approved a resolution of support for the most recent draft of the Section 1116 Revision of the Cass County Land Use Ordinance . The Ten Mile Lake Association has closely followed the evolution of this Revision over the past two years. While it has some less than perfect aspects from the Lake Association's standpoint, we strongly believe that approval of this Revision is absolutely critical to the continuing environmental health of our lakes and rivers and indeed, all of Cass County.

We particularly like the elimination of Planned Unit Developments in favor of Conservation Developments, both riparian and non-riparian. Formation of a Technical Review Panel to oversee new CD's, including a representative from the affected township or tribal governing body, is a big step forward.

The 50% open space requirement, formation of two tiers in riparian CDs, the limitation of one permanent boat slip per riparian dwelling unit to be located at a designated lake access, and a minimum riparian frontage of 400 feet are among the positive features which will protect our lakes and rivers.

We are hopeful that after 2+ years in the making, this Revision will be presented to the Board of Commissioners this summer. We urge everyone who cares about our beautiful lakes, rivers, and forests to support approval of this Section 1116 Revision into the Cass County Land Use Ordinance.

Sincerely,

Al Griggs, President, Ten Mile Lake Association.

Ice Out

From information sent by Al Griggs

The last significant ice pack on Ten Mile disappeared sometime Sunday Night (May 11). At sundown it was butting up against the former Hillaway camp area and Monday Morning it was gone, making the official Ice-Out date May 12, 2008.

Cass County Intralake Zoning Project

From information sent by Al Griggs and Paula West

Published 5/5/2008

Al Griggs writes:

I am forwarding this message from Paula West concerning the recent Cass County Intralakes Zoning Project meeting which was held last Wednesday. Many of you will recall that Cass County Environmental Services Department initiated a program several years ago to investigate rezoning of certain areas within a given lake based on environmental sensitivity. In other words, a given lake could contain areas which are zoned General Development, Recreational Development, or Natural Environment. Development standards become more restrictive in RD and NE lakes.

The DNR took over the program a couple of years ago and developed a comprehensive protocol which assigns a numerical score to each grid section of lakeshore. Higher scores denote higher environmental sensitivity.

The assessments of Ten Mile and Woman lakes are complete and the attached PDF format maps show the DNR results.

The next step is implementation. On April 23, Paul Radomsky of the DNR and John Sumption of Cass County ESD will present an overview of the program at the Hackensack Senior Center from 9:30AM until Noon. I strongly urge everyone to attend, if possible. This program is a huge step forward in our efforts to preserve our lakes. Ultimately we need to let our Commissioners know we want this to happen.

Rezoning, when implemented, would effect future lakefront development. Existing plats, projects, etc would be grandfathered into the old zone restrictions.

Paula West writes:

I attended a meeting this week on the Cass County Intralake Zoning Project and picked up a map of Woman Lake that I thought would be of interest to you; attached. John Alden was also at the meeting.

I’m sure you are familiar with the project, but if not, here’s a brief overview. Over the past several years, the DNR has been collecting field data on 17 priority lakes in Cass County on 13 parameters, and then using that data to rank areas of shoreland by its sensitivity to development. The DNR will make recommendations to the County of areas that should have special zoning protections. The County can then create Sensitive Area Districts, where conservation development and other restrictive standards can be put in place through ordinance to protect those sensitive areas against impacts of development. The data is complete on Woman and Ten Mile, the DNR has made recommendations to the County for sensitive areas on both lakes, and the County will be ready this summer to put Sensitive Area Districts in place on either of those two lakes. The key is the local lake community—lake association, township, or both--will have to initiate the zoning process by asking the County to establish the special districts and show strong local landowner support.

The attached map of Woman and Ten Mile shows the DNR’s determination of the most sensitive areas on those two lakes. Notice that the DNR thinks all shoreland is sensitive, some just more than others. Looking at the map you quickly get the idea of what areas of the lake need the most protection. I bring this to your attention because it overlaps with what the Leech Lake Area Watershed Foundation is doing this summer for Sustainability Committees to provide tools to identify the highest priority conservation projects. We anticipate receiving a grant to hire an intern from Bemidji State to map all the undeveloped shorelines meeting a defined criteria on the priority lakes in Cass County. The maps will have an overlay of the DNR’s sensitive shoreland data, where it exists, that will clearly point out undeveloped properties with sensitive shoreland criteria. This will help your Sustainability Committee, and others, to pinpoint the highest priority properties on the lake to target for conservation projects. In short, those highly sensitive areas can be protected through either 1) special zoning districts; and 2) conservation options to keep them from being developed.

I hope we can work closely with you as these tools unfold. There are a couple of events that I would like to bring to your attention that will be helpful:

1) April 23, 9:45 to 12:00, Hackensack Senior Center--- Community Meeting of the North Central Lakes Collaborative, hosted by LLAWF.

Paul Radomski, DNR, and John Sumption, Cass County, will give an update on the Intralake Zoning Project.

It would be helpful to get as many active Ten Mile lake residents there to hear about it so when the time comes to gather local support for sensitive districts your landowners are familiar with the project.

2) April 23, 7 p.m. Cass County Land Department office in Backus.

Special hearing on the final proposed Cass County Land Use Ordinance, Development Standards. The ordinance will be reviewed line by line. Much of the conservation development language has been stricken from the proposed ordinance. The Conservation Design will be the standard for the sensitive districts, but the County felt they have to get the development standards in place before they can add the special districts.

3) May 28, 2008, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Walker Community Center, Walker Minnesota

Land Conservation Options Workshop for Lake Leaders, sponsored by LLAWF. Tom Duffus, Conservation Fund, will present an overview of different land conservation options (e.g. acquisitions, donations, easements, etc) and discuss the benefits of each. This should be a great primer for your Sustainability Committee and other leaders in the lake association. Please plan to attend; there is no cost.

LLAWF is also working on some other tools for Sustainability Committees, including a landowner conservation options brochure, conservation tools fact sheets, and template letters, etc.

We look forward to working more closely with the Ten Mile Lake Association to protect sensitive areas.

Paula West , Executive Director

Leech Lake Area Watershed Foundation d