Lake County board denies EAW petition

TWO HARBORS- The Lake County Board of Commissioners, on Tuesday, denied a petition signed by hundreds of area residents seeking more environmental review of the proposed redevelopment of Silver Rapids Lodge. The Lake County Planning Commission voted to recommend that the county board decline the petition at a separate meeting held Aug. 19.
The county board did listen to a ten-minute comment by area resident Russ Hart, who encouraged the commissioners to grant the petition because he believed the environmental issues were too complex to dismiss out of hand. Hart, and the other signatories of the petition were seeking the completion of an environmental assessment worksheet, or EAW.
“I’m a PhD chemist, and I would not want to try to assess the effects of this (project) on water or the air around it. I would want some academic help by some people who know what they’re doing.”
The board instead favored the recommendation of the planning commission and the opinions of its own in-house staff.
“I do want to remind everybody that the purpose of the EAW is to identify whether an EIS is necessary,” said Christine McCarthy, the county’s director of environmental services. “Even if an EAW does not get done, that does not mean that the planning commission doesn’t have the authority to put conditions on the approval to address all the concerns that are brought up.”
McCarthy noted she’s been working in her field since 1986 and said she’s confident in her department’s ability to assess the risks associated with the project. “I have a lot of confidence in the information that we’ve gathered among staff and that people have sent us. We’ve read every single thing that’s been sent to us. Just because we don’t do an EAW does not mean that these issues will not be addressed as they related to the guidelines and statutes that are currently out there.”
Reaction
Supporters of the petition, which had over 400 signatures as of this week, expressed disappointment in the county board decision. “As the representative of the petitioners, I don’t think the Lake County commissioners believe that the public’s right to know is as important as pushing through these permits as quickly as possible,” said Hudson Kingston, an environmental lawyer with the group CURE. “Environmental law exists so we can have better projects. Circumventing that law doesn’t get us better projects. It just gets what the applicant wants.”
Kingston observed that the Lake County Planning Commission effectively shut down the public’s input to the application process after the close of the testimony portion at the July 18 public hearing, it continued to accept the resort developers’ input on the project.
“What Lake County did suggests bias. They treated the applicant as the relevant source of information but they didn’t treat the public as a relevant source.”
Kingston’s comment may have more teeth than what can be seen on the surface. Those opposed to the denial of the petition have continued to send Lake County their commentary which the county appears not to have considered based on their silence.
For example, the developers brought a lawyer, Jesse Smith of the Hanft Fride law firm, to the Aug. 19 planning commission meeting. Smith presented a legal opinion he prepared that argued the resort project did not meet Minnesota’s and Lake County’s conditions for a discretionary EAW. Smith was invited to discuss his opinion at length with the planning commission.
An opposing legal opinion by lawyer Ernest Peake of the Minneapolis law firm of Taft Stettinius & Hollister, dated Aug. 19, was sent to the planning commission last week. This opinion rebutted Smith’s legal opinion and the findings of the Lake County environmental services staff that an EAW was not mandatory. This letter received no hearing, discussion, or even acknowledgment by either the planning commission on Aug. 19 or by the Lake County board on Aug. 27.
Kingston did confirm that he had spoken to area residents who were considering taking their request for an EAW to court, which is the appropriate venue to appeal the county’s decision on the petition.
Lake County, not Ely
Ely Mayor Heidi Omerza commented to the Timberjay on her current perspective regarding the Silver Rapids issue on Tuesday, saying, “I understand people are upset, but it’s not something Ely can act on. It’s not our business. It’s Lake County’s business. I just wish people would stop calling and sending me emails telling me I’m a terrible person because of Silver Rapids.”