TOWER— The on-again, off-again request by RV park developer Dave Rose for an easement across property owned by Your Boat Club, appears to be off-again, possibly for good.
Rose told city officials at a public hearing on Monday that he was throwing in the towel after learning that his application remains incomplete.
According to Tower Clerk-Treasurer Michael Schultz, City Attorney Mitch Brunfelt suggested that Rose does not appear to qualify for the easement allowed under state law because it’s part of a single tract, most of which contains his Tower RV Resort on the east side of the East Two River. Several acres of the tract lie on the west side of the river, however, and Rose has indicated his desire to develop the property, even though it is overwhelmingly wetland.
Brunfelt also informed Rose that he would need to document that the tract on the river’s west bank is actually five acres, since state law requires a tract be five acres or more to qualify for an easement under the statute in question. County land explorer suggests the property is just over five acres, but that would likely need to be confirmed through a survey.
Rose would also need to hire an attorney to draft some of the forms required for the easement and he didn’t have the proper names for the parties involved. He also hadn’t properly served the affected landowners, according to Schultz.
Given Rose’s change of heart, the city agreed to refund about $19,000 in escrow that Rose had paid to the city up front to cover its costs in processing his easement petition. The city opted to return his escrow funds in full if he was now abandoning the proposal.
New plan by Rose
While Rose has apparently abandoned his plan for an easement, he isn’t giving up on ideas for using the site to generate a financial return. In an email to the Timberjay on Tuesday, Rose said he now plans to create platform tents on the site, which customers can access from the new kayak/canoe landing the city built along the East Two River, just downstream of the city harbor.