(Spirit Lake)– The Spirit Lake city council officially went on record last evening as being opposed to selling any public accesses in the city. They voted five-to-nothing on a motion NOT to proceed with a proposal to sell a portion of a public access at the end of 11th Street.
The council took the action after hearing from several groups and residents opposed to public accesses being sold. They said public access to the Iowa Great Lakes keeps getting more and more scarce. They also expressed concern over water quality and a greater potential for erosion if the accesses were to be developed.
Brad Beck, who was requesting to purchase the parcel of land, argued otherwise, saying their plans would have actually protected the lake. And Beck said they would have used only a portion of the 11th street access.
But councilman Jerry Harbst, who made the motion not to sell the land, said he was concerned over a precedence that may have been sent if action was taken to sell this particular access…or even just a portion of it.
Representatives of the Blue Water Garden Club and East Okoboji Lakes Improvement Corporation said they’d be willing to help the city clean up some of the more cluttered accesses. The city indicated Tuesday evening it may just take them up on that offer, saying more needs to be done to make some of those areas more accessible.
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