Lake County sued over Silver Rapids decision

Catie Helm-Clark

“The record is indisputably clear that Silver Rapids’ planned resort, according to its development plans and application submittals, mischaracterized the permitted use of the resort property, and exceeded - by double - the maximum densities permitted for such property under both local and state law,””

CARD Attorney Ernie Peake

FALL LAKE TWP- Opponents of the proposed redevelopment of the Silver Rapids Resort property are alleging in a lawsuit filed Oct. 3 that members of the Lake County Planning Commission knowingly violated county ordinance and state law when they approved a conditional use permit and preliminary plat that allows far greater density of development at the site than allowed.

The group Community Advocates for Responsible Development, or CARD, which represents nearby property owners, along with property owner Joseph Krall, filed their appeal of that decision in the Sixth District court in Two Harbors. In it, they seek an injunction requiring the county to retract its decision and the award of all costs and attorney fees incurred by the plaintiffs.

Included in the 125-page court filing are numerous exhibits that plaintiffs believe show that members of the planning commission knew that the conditional use permit they approved on Sept. 4, 2024, was in violation of county ordinance and state law.

Perhaps the most damning of those exhibits is a spreadsheet, apparently prepared by Lake County planning staff, that shows the allowable number of residential or rental units that would be allowed near the waterfront (known as the first tier) and how many would be allowed in the second tier, located further inland. According to the spreadsheet, the most units that could be allowed in the first tier under the county’s ordinance was 14, with 15 allowed in the second tier. In the end, the planning commission approved a conditional use permit allowing 33 units in the first tier and 29 units in the second.

“The record is indisputably clear that Silver Rapids’ planned resort, according to its development plans and application submittals, mischaracterized the permitted use of the resort property, and exceeded - by double - the maximum densities permitted for such property under both local and state law,” notes the attorneys for CARD in their court filing.

The project developers, who hope to build 49 luxury condominiums at the site along with additional docking, a new lodge, and improvements to other existing buildings, had argued that the project should fall under less restrictive state rules for commercial planned unit developments. Yet the county spreadsheet showed that even under the state rules, no more than 27 units would be allowed in the first tier, with 21 in the second tier.

In either case, the Minnesota DNR had informed county officials ahead of the decision that the stricter county ordinance, rather than the state’s shoreland rules, was the controlling standard for the project.

CARD calls the county’s approval of the applications “unlawful, arbitrary, and capricious,” and adds that the county and its administrator for its planning staff, Christine McCarthy, the Director of Lake County Environmental Services, had “no excuse” for their failure to deny the applications.

The lawsuit asks the district court to force Lake County to deny the applications. The plaintiffs are represented by the Taft Stettinius & Hollister Law Firm, based in Minneapolis.

The Timberjay will have more on this story in its Oct. 11 print edition.