Laserfiche WebLink
1992 LMCD Lake Minnetonka Access Task Force Report <br />4. Parking standards for Lake Minnetonka may need to be adjusted. <br />After the report was issued, there was no rush to build the 700 car/trailer parking places by any body or <br />agency. The lake area communities believed there were more than the 700 car/trailer parking spaces <br />called for in the report and the lake didn't need another 700. They questioned why the local communities <br />should pay to build car/trailer parking for people outside their area, even though community residents <br />were also users. <br />Because of the lack of action in providing for the needed car/trailer parking, the Metropolitan Council did <br />another lake access study in 1986. It confirmed the 700 car/trailer parking space amount as being a fair <br />and reasonable number. <br />In 1987, as a result of no action in providing car/trailer parking spaces and no plans to build them, the <br />Metropolitan Council told the LMCD that they would seek state legislative action for a regional or state <br />agency to take over governing of Lake Minnetonka to be assured the car/trailer parking was provided, <br />unless the LMCD prepared a formal plan showing how the car/trailer parking would be accomplished. <br />The LMCD believed the car/trailer parking could not be considered without developing an overall long <br />range management plan for the lake that would include adequate free car/trailer parking. The LMCD <br />Management Plan was published at the end of 1990 and approved in December 1991. <br />The LMCD Management Plan which the DNR, the Metropolitan Council, the cities and many others <br />helped develop, reaffirmed the 700 car/trailer parking space goal as being fair and reasonable. Three <br />additional fundamental points were discussed: <br />1. For Lake Minnetonka 700 parking spaces would be both the minimum and the maximum. <br />2. Once the 700 car/trailer spaces are established, other street car/trailer parking ought to be <br />eliminated. The cities and the county will be encoura ed to erect and enforce "no car/trailer <br />parking" signs as long as the 700 goal continues to be met. <br />3. The LMCD, with assistance from the DNR, should re ew the existing parking quality standards <br />to determine if some adjustments could be made for the special situation on Lake Minnetonka. <br />In the fall of 1991, the DNR took an option on property on Maxwell Bay with the intent of developing a <br />launch ramp with free car/trailer parking. Objections surfaced in the city of Orono. Orono tried to <br />persuade the DNR not to exercise its option on the property until a plan for the entire lake was developed <br />according to the LMCD management plan. At this time, the LMCD was just beginning to organize its <br />Access Committee. When the DNR purchased the Maxwell Bay property, the DNR commissioner wrote <br />a letter to both the LMCD and the city of Orono. The letter stated that the DNR would postpone <br />development of the Maxwell Bay property until a task force appointed by the LMCD developed a <br />detailed plan for car/trailer parking for all of Lake Minnetonka. <br />Page 4 <br />255 <br />