(Spirit Lake)– Dickinson county and the city of Milford are drawing lines in the legal sand over the Lower Gar Outlet issue.
It was mentioned at Tuesday’s board of supervisors meeting the county has received a letter from the city of Milford giving official notice it “will not grant permission to any employee, agent, representative, contractor or consultant of Dickinson county to utilize any right-of-way of 230th Avenue located within the city to design, engineer, alter, construct or make any changes to the culverts at the Lower Gar Outlet, until further notice.” It goes on to warn that the city will consider each violation of the notice as trespassing.
Other than confirming receipt of the letter, there was no discussion about it by supervisors Tuesday as the Lower Gar Outlet wasn’t on the agenda. Assistant County Attorney Lonnie Saunders did tell the board he’s working on a response to the city’s letter.
The city, which has partial jurisdiction over the road involved, has expressed numerous concerns over the city’s plans, siting potential liability issues among others.
It’s also drawn controversy from some landowners on East Lake Okoboji and Lower Gar. They’re concerned the increased outflow capacity at the Lower Gar Outlet would further decrease the levels of their lakes, making them useless.
The county says the project is crucial to keep valuable West Lake Okoboji shoreline from washing into the lake due to persistent high water levels on that lake.
