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An attempt to have a proposed resort expansion follow go through an Environmental Assessment Worksheet was denied Tuesday.
An application for a preliminary plat and conditional use permit had been made by Leisure Hotels & Resorts, and others for a $45 million expansion of Silver Rapids Lodge.
At a regular meeting of the Lake County board on Aug. 27, commissioners opened for public comment on a petition for a discretionary Environmental Assessment Worksheet (EAW). The petition had been signed by over 300 people, and a previous decision had been by the county’s environmental services department that the project did not meet the threshold for a mandatory EAW after the project owners had reduced the number of units proposed to 49 by removing workforce housing from their plans.
Russell Hart spoke to the Lake County board Tuesday.
The request for a discretionary EAW had already been reviewed by the county’s Planning Commission and been recommended to be denied.
Russell Hart, Ely area resident, made a presentation to the board, stating that he was asked to speak on behalf of the “hundreds” of people who had signed the petition asking the board to require a discretionary environmental assessment worksheet.
Hart stated that the residents of the area believed the discretionary EAW should be implemented because of three factors; they believe the proposed resort expansion would be disruptive to an environmentally sensitive area, it would be disruptive with more people in the area, and because there are public questions and controversy over environmental impacts.
Concerns about pollution caused by increased human activity were at the top of those brought by Hart should the board allow the expansion.
“If you do that you are going to kill the existence of Ely, it exists because of the Boundary Waters and its aesthetic cleanliness,” Hart said.
Discussion by the board ensued with commissioner Rich Sve’s statement, “This isn’t a common thing for us, dealing with an EAW.”
Sve gave guidance to the board that for the moment they were only responding to the petition for a discretionary EAW, not the project itself.
Commissioner Rick Hogenson asked co-owner Jamie Tatge whether the proposed units would be limited to individual rentals, or whether multiple parties could rent one unit.
“We haven’t decided yet, we haven’t got that final design,” said Tatge.
Hogenson was the sole dissenting vote, with the resolution to deny the discretionary EAW passing 4-1. Voting to deny were Joe Baltich, Sve, Rick Goutermount and Jeremy Hurd.
Environmental Services director Christine McCarthy said even without an EAW her department was competent and prepared to process the conditional use permit diligently.
“Just because we don’t do an EAW does not mean that these issues will not be addressed as they relate to guidelines from the Department of Natural Resources, the Minnesota Pollution Control and the Department of Health,” said McCarthy.
Goutermont said he was grateful for the considerable public input.
“The public comments that have come in on this project is more than we’ve ever got, but it’s not in vain because it caused all of us to look further, so thanks to the public to make sure this puts a magnifying glass on everything and make sure we make the right decisions moving forward,” said Goutermont.
