05-14-1990 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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I* I,I MINUTES OF ORONO COUNCIL MEETING HELD MAY 14, 1990 LMCD REPORT CONTINUED Mayor Grabek asked how his taxes would be directly affected. • Bernhardson replied that taxes could increase up to 1 %. Mayor Grabek indicated that he concurred with the comments made by Callahan. Grabek stated that his concerns stemmed from the way in which the LMCD is managed. He stated that the organization is weak. Grabek did approve of the attempt the Plan made to bring other communities into conformance with more strict standards. Councilmember Nettles concurred with the opinions expressed by Callahan and Grabek. He said, "I favor the idea in the Plan that 700 additional parking spots will be located off -site. I also believe it is a good concept to have better educated people involved with this. However, I view this Plan to be a method of encouraging more lake use rather than lake conservation. I agree that public waters should be accessible to the public. I don't know how the determination was made that this lake or the accesses are under utilized." Nettles read a statement within the report concerning the number of persons experiencing problems while on the lake. Hurr replied, "Lake Minnetonka may be used excessively on Sundays and holidays. However, it is under utilized on week days. Nothing can be done to decrease the usage that occurs on • weekends." Nettles said, "That is not my point. If we already have a situation where over 50% of lake users are reporting problems with using the lake, why would we want to increase lake usage." Nettles referred to the table on page 26 showing the increase in boats in relation to the number of boats /acre allowed on the lake. He said, "The Plan states that once density reaches 5 to 7 boats per acre that conflicts occurring on the lake will be studied." Nettles believed that this approach was backwards. He said, "If the LMCD is our regional representative, why should they be promoting what the DNR and Hennepin County have identified as their goals? How does that help the residents of this community preserve our resource ?" Hurr replied, "The Plan attempts to be realistic in what the DNR and other studies have indicated to be reasonable use. The people living on the lake may wish that number to be much less. Realistically, it is a public resource, and though people pay taxes to live on the lake, it does not give them the right to use the lake more than anyone else. There are national figures that would be used for lake usage. It may be necessary to zone portions of the lake. You cannot have water skiers and fisherman always using the same portion of the lake. We had attempted to establish 'quiet water' areas on the lake. That was not 4 - •