(Spirit Lake)– The Dickinson County Planning and Zoning Commission Tuesday tabled action on a request from Butch Parks and Parks Marina to rezone some land along 245th Avenue currently owned by Lutheran Lakeside Camp.
Parks, who has made an offer to purchase the land, is requesting it be rezoned from Agricultural to General Commercial. A purchase agreement between Parks and the Lutheran Lakeside Camp is contingent upon the rezoning taking place and the neighboring Barefoot Bar not being relocated to the site.
Members of the Cleanwater Alliance and the East Okoboji Lakes Improvement Association expressed concern over the proposed rezoning, fearing any commercial development of the land would be detrimental to water quality of East Lake Okoboji.
Upon tabling the rezoning request, representatives of Parks Marina and the environmental groups were urged to work together to see if there were some conservation practices that could be used to alleviate any environmental concerns that would result from that area being converted to a commercial use. Such a zoning designation would allow up to 90 percent of the land to have hard surfaces.
