(Spirit Lake)– An indoor water park may be coming to the Iowa Great Lakes. It would be included in a condominium complex developers are proposing to build on 70 acres of land on the southeast side of East Lake Okoboji.
With three members absent, the Dickinson County Planning and Zoning Commission voted four-to-nothing Tuesday to recommend the board of supervisors approve a request to rezone lakeshore property in that area from Lakeshore Residential and Agricultural to Resort Enterprise District. The land is owned by Thomas Nielsen and is being developed by a limited liability corporation, of which John Broek is a developer. He tells KUOO news they aren’t sure yet how many units would be included in the condo complexes, but he says the population density would be well below the maximum amount allowed by the county’s zoning ordinance in areas zoned Resort Enterprise District.
Broek and his partner, Randy Ronzek, have been involved in other condo projects in the lakes area, including complexes just north and south of Village West.
According to information presented at Tuesday’s meeting, the 70 acres on which the proposed development is to take place is currently valued at 157,800-dollars. That’s expected to swell to between 100 million and 150 million dollars once the proposed project is completed…generating an estimated one million dollars a year in property taxes.
Some who spoke at the meeting were concerned over any ecological impacts on the lake. Earl Maahs, a Spirit Lake attorney who spoke on behalf of the developers, said the project is actually intended to lessen environmental pressures on East Lake Okoboji.
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