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Message from the Council Chair - April 25, 2004

Balanced approach needed to resolve Lake Elmo dispute

In a guest column in the April 18 Pioneer Press, Lake Elmo Mayor Lee Hunt took great liberty with the facts in arguing that his community should not be forced to modify its comprehensive plan and accommodate a small portion of the region's projected growth.

Mayor Hunt would have people believe that the Metropolitan Council is trying to force Lake Elmo to reserve two-thirds of the city for sewered, urban development and fundamentally change the character of his community. He also would have people believe Lake Elmo never had any interest in receiving metro sewer service.

Neither statement is accurate.

The Council's 1996 Regional Blueprint did call for more than half of Lake Elmo to be protected for possible urban development after 2020.

After the city submitted its comprehensive plan in 2002, the Council requested modifications to accommodate sewered development in the southern part of the city. Even with these modifications, 81 percent of Lake Elmo would be allowed to develop at the lower densities, as called for in the city's original comprehensive plan.

Instead of agreeing to these modifications, or proposing a compromise of their own, the current leaders of Lake Elmo began an expensive court battle challenging the Met Council's regional planning authority. They lost the first two rounds - before an administrative law judge and the Minnesota Court of Appeals. But they have now carried their battle to the Minnesota Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, Lake Elmo officials have resisted any attempt to reach a compromise. After I became Council chair, we expressed a willingness to scale back the area of Lake Elmo that would be designated for higher-density, sewered development - basically the one-mile-wide strip along the city's southern boundary between Interstate 94 and 10th Street North.

The remainder of Lake Elmo - approximately 88 percent - would be allowed to develop at the lower, rural-like densities called for in the city's original comprehensive plan.

Our proposal would allow the region to take advantage of the very expensive regional infrastructure the taxpayers already have provided to help Lake Elmo and the East Metro area keep pace with our region's anticipated growth. These investments include three major highways, a 2,200-area regional park, an interceptor sewer that serves the southwestern corner of the city and plans to provide additional sewer capacity.

These sewer plans were developed during the period 1997-2000 with the participation of representatives from Lake Elmo. The plans were prepared after Lake Elmo officials made repeated requests in the 1980s and 1990s for additional sewer capacity to serve their community. Those requests now are conveniently forgotten.

Mayor Hunt suggests that Lake Elmo has no stake in the development of the region as a whole or whether we can provide regional services in a cost-effective manner. Indeed, he asserts that his city "will contribute no sewage to the metro system." That also is not true.

Lake Elmo has had a metro sewer interceptor serving the southwestern corner of the city since 1973. In addition, the Lake Elmo has an ordinance requiring that all septic systems within the city be pumped every two years. An estimated 1 million to 1.5 million gallons of waste is hauled by truck into St. Paul each year and treated at our Metro regional treatment plant.

Mayor Hunt is accurate on one point: For the past 30 years, the Met Council has successfully relied on dialogue and negotiation to ensure the adoption of local comprehensive plans that are consistent with our plans for the region as a whole.

Of the nearly 2,400 comprehensive plans and plan amendments submitted by local units of government, the Council has required modification of just 28, or about 2 percent of the total.

In every other case, the Council has been able to reach agreement with the local community on a mutually acceptable modification in its plan. Lake Elmo is the only local unit of government that has refused to do so and instead has gone to court.

The regional/local planning relationship established by the Legislature has served our region well. It has helped us accommodate our growth in an orderly and economical manner, and ensure the most efficient use of our highways, sewers and other costly infrastructure.

Isolationist views such as those of Mayor Hunt, if allowed to prevail, will not only undermine this pattern of regional planning and cooperation. They also will drive up the cost of urban services for every homeowner and business in the seven-county metro area.

Peter Bell

April 2004

(Originally published in the Pioneer Press, April 25, 2004)