County approves Lakes and Hills plan

Talk about it

Douglas County commissioners were in a permitting mood Tuesday.

Before a packed house during their regularly scheduled meeting, the county board approved several pending area development projects, including the disputed Lakes and Hills of Douglas County housing community.

Currently, the Lake Brophy Association, along with Lake Cowdry residents Roger and Peggy Olson, are suing the county over the project, located on 131 acres near lakes Brophy and North Union and the Central Lakes Trail.

The parties are appealing the board’s decision last March not to pursue an in-depth study on the development known as an Environmental Impact Statement.

Attorney Tami Norgard, who represents the lake association and the Olsons, said her clients are “very disappointed” in the board’s latest decision, calling the project one of the largest ever in Douglas County.

“They are basically creating a lake development without lake access,” she said. “This is a very environmentally sensitive area.”

County commissioners voted 5-0 Tuesday to approve the development’s preliminary plat and grant a conditional-use permit.

Plans call for building 120 units in eight phases through 2014.

“Mr. chair, in my 10 years sitting here I have never seen a plat come in so clean,” said Paul Anderson, District 4 commissioner.

Dave Rush, director of Douglas County’s Land and Resource Management department, presented the Lakes and Hills plat to commissioners.

He said over the last several months the county has added conditions to the proposed project in order to address concerns raised last spring by a review called an Environmental Assessment Worksheet.

These provisions include:

• No allowed increase in storm water runoff.

• Smaller docks, with one on Lake Brophy and a non-motor one on North Union Lake.

• Limitations to how much the developer can modify the area’s beach, lakeshore and natural vegetation.

• The requirement that the development be hooked up to a centralized sewer system.

Rush said the developer is also proposing to donate 10.6 acres to build a public parking lot along the Central Lakes Trail and a public bathroom along the beach.

“Any change that they want to make … they would have to come back [before commissioners] because of the conditions you have here,” he said.

Following the board’s approval of the plat, Norgard said her clients are considering adding a secondary appeal in their ongoing lawsuit, which is set to go to trial in February.

Bill Seykora, president of the Brophy Lakes Association, said, overall, he is satisfied with how the Lakes and Hills development has turned out, save for one exception.

“My question is who’s going to pay for the Alexandria Lakes Area Sanitary District to come and hook up these 120 homes to centralized sewer?” he asked.

“If they can answer that without costing the taxpayers of Douglas County a fortune,” Seykora said, “then I have no qualms against it at all.”

More Permits

County commissioners voted 4-1 Tuesday to convert a former resort into a 24-unit seasonal recreational vehicle park.

Scenic View Properties, which will be renamed Scenic View R.V. Park, is owned by Dennis Westrom, father of State Representative Torrey Westrom, R-Elbow Lake.

Currently, the property is being leased out to mobile-home owners.

In other action, the board:

• Approved transforming an old resort into a family owned subdivision.

• Granted a permit for a residential planned unit development.

• Approved a preliminary plat for Ella’s Corner.

Tags: douglas, county, commissioners, meeting, lakes, and, hills, plan, northland, outdoors, conservation