Groups Ask DNR to Toughen Shoreline Rules
By John Myers, Duluth News-Tribune, Minn.
Jan. 23–Two groups worried that Minnesota’s lakes are being loved to death called on the state Department of Natural Resources on Monday to put new teeth behind shoreline development rules.
The Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, along with Minnesota Waters — which represents lake and river associations across the state — want the DNR to make voluntary shoreline guidelines mandatory under state law.
The groups petitioned the DNR last fall to begin the process to adopt mandatory, statewide standards which would have the effect of state law on new waterfront homes and cabin expansions. If the agency doesn’t act, the groups can bring the case to court or ask state legislators to take action.
“We still have some of our shoreland intact. But as more and more people want a chunk of paradise, we will be losing them. Now is the time to act,” state Rep. Frank Moe, DFL-Bemidji, said in a statement.
The DNR, under orders from Gov. Tim Pawlenty, brought interested parties together in 2005 to develop the new shoreland rules for five counties in north-central Minnesota — Itasca, Aitkin, Crow Wing, Cass and Hubbard.
The DNR stopped short of putting the rules into state regulations, saying instead it would let counties set development regulations locally. But, since the “voluntary alternative shoreland standards” were developed in December 2005, no county has adopted the full set of guidelines.
Lake advocacy groups say county government officials often are reluctant to enact or enforce waterfront development regulations, choosing to back landowners and increase the tax base rather than protect the water.
Without the statewide force of law, most counties have been willing to grant variances to allow more intensive shoreline development. In a recent DNR survey, 14 counties allowed between 60 percent and 100 percent of the variances requested by landowners to build along waterways.
“You have to wonder, if they are granting variances all of the time, why do we even have the standards?” said Janette Brimmer, legal director of Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy. “The DNR has a statutory obligation to protect the state’s shoreland and waters. We need a single, clear, statewide shoreland regulation system to protect our state’s resources.”
Kent Lokkesmoe, waters division director for the DNR, said Monday the agency will deny the petition to adopt the rules on a mandatory, statewide basis. Instead, he said the DNR will begin a new process within 60 days aimed at statewide plans.
“We’re denying their petition [Tuesday] because we don’t bait and switch. We told the counties going into [the 2005 effort] that this was going to be voluntary,” Lokkesmoe told the News Tribune. “But we will be moving forward with a new rulemaking process that, from the start, makes it clear to all stakeholders that we’re aiming at statewide, mandatory rules.”
But Brimmersaid calling all parties back for another year or more of discussions is a waste of time, with good rules ready to put in place.
“The counties already have gone back on their part of the bargain because they haven’t adopted the standards like they promised to do,” she said. “What the DNR is saying is that more than a year of effort by a lot of very busy people is toasted, that we have to start from scratch. That’s ridiculous.”
With so little undeveloped land remaining along lakes, and developed lots seeing expanded building, advocates say the state must act now. State guidelines haven’t been updated since 1989, and there never have been statewide regulations.
Between 1954 and 1967, a state survey found a 90 percent increase in the number of structures on lakes. Between 1967 and 1982, the number of lake homes and cabins grew another 74 percent.
Since then, the number of structures continues to increase, although the state hasn’t conducted a waterfront building census for a quarter century. Many formerly seasonal cabins are being converted to year-round homes, pushing development closer to the water and eating up more near-shore habitat.
“There has been more development on the bigger lakes, more development of cabins into homes, and more development on small lakes where we never used to see any interest,” Lokkesmoe said.
State demographers predict that virtually all growth outside the Twin Cities in the next 50 years will be in the state’s lakes and forest regions, in the country and often on waterfront.
“We’re going to see a million more people in Minnesota over the next 30 years, and a lot of that growth will be in the lakes region. The pressure is just going to get worse,” said Paula West, communications and outreach coordinator for Minnesota Waters. “Development patterns have changed a lot since the last guidelines were written. We’re seeing pressure now on sensitive shallow lakes and sensitive shallow bays of bigger lakes.”
Several studies show that rampant development on lakes has led to leaking septic systems and lawns that fertilize lakes with phosphorus, erosion from building sites as cabins are expanded into homes, and critical loss of shoreline habitat for waterfowl and other birds, amphibians and animals.
Habitat in the lakes often is degraded with development onshore, DNR studies show, with aerial photographs showing declining spawning areas for many fish species near newly developed cabins and homes. That so-called development footprint is greater as landowners build closer to the water and as they alter the shoreline to suit their desires, such as grass lawns, docks and weed-free swimming areas.
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Copyright (c) 2007, Duluth News-Tribune, Minn.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.
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