Sleepy Eye committee hopeful lake can be dredged

City hires

engineer Stephen C. Hansen to

handle dredging

issues

By FRITZ BUSCH

Journal Staff Writer

SLEEPY EYE -- With a little help from an old friend, the Sleepy Eye Lake Committee hopes to get moving on its plans to dredge the lake next year.

Sleepy Eye native Stephen C. Hansen, an engineer with Bonestroo, Rosene Anderlik & Associates of St. Paul, has been hired by the City of Sleepy Eye to help prepare an Environmental Assessment Worksheet (EAW).

The document would be presented to federal, state and county agencies for review and comment later this year.

Hansen told the lake committee Monday that he will work with Redwood Cottonwood River Control Area Executive Director James Doering on measuring the lake bottom with Global Positioning System equipment this summer in order to create a dredging proposal.

He hopes to help create an EAW that would be agreeable with the Minnesota Dept. of Natural Resources and other government agencies.

The EAW is a document reviewing potential environmental impacts that may result from a proposed project, and how modifications to it may lessen impacts.

If it is determined that impacts will be significant, the EAW process would result in the creation of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). An EIS is a more detailed analysis in which project alternatives are thoroughly analyzed and a formal mitigation plan is prepared.

"We're the most encouraged we've ever been (about dredging)," Lake Improvement Committee President Wayne Pelzel said. "Getting Steve (Hansen) in on this gives trust and credibility to the project."

Hansen suggested cutting a half-moon design on the east edge of the weed "island" in the middle of the lake that the lake committee seeks to dredge. He felt such a design would be more amenable to the DNR that a straight cut.

"I know what this lake means to the community and the county," Hansen said. "My 47-year-old firm does watershed and steam restoration."

Hansen said he is well-acquainted with DNR water officials and what they require for dredging projects. He will gather data to draft an EAW and submit it through the appropriate agencies.

The EAW will address the dredging project description, purpose and its beneficiaries. It will also address fish, wildlife and ecologically-sensitive resources, physical impacts on water resources, ground water an surface water use, erosion and sedimentation, water quality and surface runoff, wastewater, geological hazards and soil conditions, solid and hazardous wastes and soil conditions, air emissions, odors, noise and dust and infrastructure impact, among other things.

During a 30-day comment period, the public may submit comments on the EAW. At the end of the period, the Responsible Governmental Unit must respond to any written comments received and determine if an EIS is needed.

The Lake Committee agreed with Pelzel that it was in their best interest to begin building dredging dikes on the lake later this year, in hopes of doing actual dredging next year. The City of Sleepy Eye budgeted about $300,000 for the dredging process this year. Most of the money will carry over to next year, Kober said.

Citing the need to protect water quality and the ecological integrity of the lake, the DNR said in October of 2001 that it could not support a proposal to remove 450,00-600,000 cubic yards of lake sediment that the Sleepy Eye Lake Committee sought to dredge.

Pelzel said he gave the DNR a proposal to do more dredging than the DNR's original limit of 150,000 yards, hoping to find a compromise.

Rob Collette, a hydrologist in DNR's Hutchinson office said lake borings didn't show enough sediment depth to warrant more dredging.

Pelzel said there is 5-10 feet of sediment in much of the lake and more in some areas.

Last winter, the Lake Committee, an arm of the Sleepy Eye City Council, hired St. Cloud attorney Kurt Deter of the Rinke-Noonan law firm of St. Cloud to deal with the dredging issue. Deter wrote a letter to the regional DNR office asking that the dredging issue be resolved.

Pelzel said the lake committee is about more than dredging. It is also about stewardship. Toward that end, the Sleepy Eye Sportsman Club used non-phosphorus fertilizer on grass in its park on the north side of the lake.

"It does make a difference what you put on your lawn and whether or not grass clippings get into the storm water system," Pelzel said.