Published August 27, 2008 in the Echo Press (get PDF)
We recently learned that Douglas County Board member Bev Bales circulated a personal letter that she entitled “The Truth about County Road 42”. The letter was filled with false and erroneous allegations leveled against Lake Carlos Area Association and its attorneys. For years, we have been locked in conflict with the Douglas County Highway Department and the County Board over a proposed road project that will cost the taxpayers more than $2.7 million dollars.
Far from the truth, the Bales letter alleges that the lake associations for Lakes Le Homme Dieu and Darling are in support of the highway department’s expensive plan. They are not. Both of these lake associations support the Lake Carlos Area Association in its effort to downsize the road project that purposes to more than double the width of the paved surface from its current twenty-four (24) feet to fifty (50) feet.
The planned road will encroach on Lakes Le Homme Dieu and Carlos and result in huge water run-off issues because of the curb and gutter system required for a sidewalk, which will run from Bug-A-Boo Bay to the Carlos-Darling Bridge. Trees, bushes and rock walls will be destroyed. The Indian Mounds intersection will be a mass of cement or asphalt. A rebuilt intersection at County Roads 11 and 34, just beyond the bridge, will again be massive and cause huge run-off threats to the lakes.
Because of the overly wide road, including two ten-foot bike paths, the county is proposing to construct a vast drainage system. Holding ponds and storm-sewers will be constructed on private property and will be drained into existing natural ponds and will overflow into Lakes Darling, Carlos and Le Homme Dieu. The three lake associations, representing hundreds of taxpaying residents on the lakes, have urged the county to downsize the project that will destroy the residential lake drive.
Commissioner Bales, a strong supporter of the highway department’s road plan, has now taken her own action to distribute her so-called “fact sheet” in bars and other businesses. She also prevailed upon Carlos Township to publish the fact sheet alleging that it was an official position of the “Douglas County Commission”. In fact, it is not. The County Board did not discuss or adopt the publication.
Commissioner Bales attacked the Lake Carlos Area Association and its attorneys while alleging that their efforts were opposed by the other two lake associations. The volunteer boards for the three lake associations made countless efforts to reach an agreement with the Highway Department to downsize the project.
In fact, the county has not reduced the width of the paved surface by one inch since the project was initially considered in 1991. The only reduction in width, on that portion of County Road 42 north of the Indian Mounds, was reduced by five feet at the recommendation of the county’s engineering consulting firm. The Highway Department has rejected all efforts to reduce the size of the project. Even when Minnesota Department of Transportation (MNDOT) agreed that if asked it would allow the county to reduce the pavement width to 40 feet, while narrowing road shoulders, our highway engineer refused. This would be a great saving to the taxpayers and would allow for a safe and less destructive roadway.
Because of the county’s refusal to cooperate, the Lake Carlos Area Association, supported by all three associations, was forced to start a lawsuit and the matter is now under consideration in the Minnesota Court of Appeals. Everyone agrees that the road project is long overdue. The dispute is over the width of the road, the run-off threat to the lakes, the proposed expenditure of more than $2.7 million dollars, and the destruction of the lake drive. The unauthorized and inappropriate actions of an individual on our County Commission make a reasonable compromise even more difficult.
By Stephen C. Eisele, President of Lake Carlos Area Association
Keith Dougherty, President of Lake L’Homme Dieu Association
Tom Osterberg, President of Lake Darling Area Association