(Spirit Lake)– Meeting in special session Wednesday, the Spirit Lake city council discussed several issues pertaining to Drainage District 22, which the city has jurisdiction over. The district runs from the southern part of the city of Spirit Lake south along the bike trail to east of McDonalds in Okoboji, where it outlets into East Lake Okoboji.
One of the main issues discussed Wednesday was a preliminary verbal report from Don Ettler, an engineer the city hired to recommend possible improvements to the system. Assistant City Attorney Greg Owen has been representing the city on Drainage District 22 issues. He told the council Ettler has yet to file a formal report on his recommendations, but Owen said Ettler has made some verbal recommendations.
Owen told the council Ettler feels it isn’t necessary for the district to acquire additional land; that he believes there’s a channeling issue in a pond behind McDonalds; and that the speed of the water going through that area needs to be slowed, but that he feels recent improvements already made to the system are helping. Owen said it’s also believed most of the problems lie on the far southern part of the system…between the Stables and McDonalds.
Rick Hopper, an engineer who’s designed most of the work already done in DD 22, told the council one option is to expand a pond near McDonalds by an additional two to three feet and to put in additional rock along the channel in that area. The cost of expanding the pond was estimated at between 22-thousand and 23-thousand dollars. No action was taken on that matter as council members want to wait for Ettler’s final written report. Owen said they’re hoping to get that very soon, saying they want to carryout any recommended improvement projects yet this fall in order to prevent any new problems in the spring.
The council did direct Hopper to proceed with removing silt from a ditch east of the bike trail along 28th Street to address problems in that area. That project is expected to cost between 2,500 and three thousand dollars.
The council also heard from Maxine Butler of the Soil and Water Conservation District. The agency entered into a cost-sharing agreement with the district when the city took it over to plant and maintain native grasses near the detention ponds. Butler said they’re concerned over future development in the area south of 41st Street, adding it’s crucial the Soil and Water Conservation District be kept up to date with any plans in that area and that existing cover near the ponds in that area isn’t disturbed. She says they’ve had reports of fill being put in some of those areas, something the city says it will look into.
Several council members again expressed a desire to establish a joint position with atleast one other governmental entity that would oversee various drainage issues, including enforcement of the silt fence ordinance.
Meanwhile council members are getting concerned over mounting costs of DD 22 projects already done and those that are being proposed. While there has been no talk yet of the need for additional assessments from property owners in the district, the council Wednesday directed City Administrator Mark Stevens to find out what the balance is in the DD 22 account.
