(Spirit Lake)– Tension is building between the Dickinson county board of supervisors and environmentalists who want the county to clamp down on developers on the Bridge’s Bay Subdivision on the southeast side of East Lake Okoboji.
Environmentalists were at Tuesday’s supervisors meeting requesting the board send the developers a letter requesting they put in writing what low impact development techniques they intend to use.
Phil Peterson, appearing on behalf of the Okoboji Protective Association and the East Okoboji Lake Improvement Corporation, told the supervisors they owe it to their constituents to make sure the developers follow through with their promises. Supervisor Wayne Northey was leery of the group’s request for the county to clamp down on just one development, saying there are many others taking place in other environmentally sensitive areas around the lakes. Peterson responded by saying that the developers in this case promised they would use low impact techniques.
Supervisor Mardi Allen feels it’s an inappropriate time to send such a letter, saying the developers are dealing with other issues right now such as sanitary sewer and water. Peterson responded by saying those concerns were supposedly addressed in letters the developers received from the respective utilities during the rezoning process. The letters, referred to at public hearings, indicated at that time there were no problems.
After further discussion, some of it heated, the supervisors voted five-to-nothing NOT to send the letter to Bridge’s Bay developers. They’ll wait two weeks and talk about it some more.
On a related note, David Kohlhaase, the county’s Zoning Administrator, reported that Wayne Peterson, a specialist on low impact development that put on seminars for local officials last winter, will be meeting in the near future with the P & Z to further discuss low impact development components.
