(Spirit Lake)– The city of Spirit Lake is looking into the possibility of establishing a storm water utility that would result in a charge being tacked onto resident’s monthly water and sewer bills for run-off from their properties that goes into the storm sewer.
John Wills of the Cleanwater Alliance told the council such a charge would be minimal, and could be based on several factors, including the size of a lot, impervious surfaces, whether or not rain gardens are present, and/or valuation.
Under the proposal outlined by Wills, those with properties that do not drain into a storm sewer but instead go into a lake wouldn’t be charged. Councilman Steve Balm questioned the fairness of that, saying that water could also pollute the lakes. Balm said he feels the city’s current system of bonding for storm sewer projects is the fairest, as all residents in the city wind up paying that way.
Another councilman, Clyde Ihrke, said he wants additional information on how much money the storm water utility would generate before taking any action.
Wills told the council a number of other cities in the state have already formed storm water utilities.
In other business Tuesday, the Spirit Lake city council adopted a moratorium on issuing licenses for sexually oriented businesses in the city. It will be in place until an updated zoning ordinance comes out that spells out the districts in which such businesses can be permitted.
