Dredging Lake Zumbro

Updates

The County Board approved a measure to buy land to deposit of the spoils from the dredging of Lake Zumbro.  The amount was $640,000.

The County made the purchase in place of the Olmsted-Wabasha Lake Zumbro Joint Powers Board.  This will allow the Joint Powers Board to have more funds to do more dredging.  The County will recoup some of the funds by renting the land to the JPB for dewatering and depositing the dredged spoils.  The County will retain ownership of the land and can at some point can sell it, rent it for agriculture purposes, or use it for a purpose to be determined in the future.

I supported this purchase and to increase the county’s original project limit (from $400,000 to $640,000) because Lake Zumbro is a great recreational asset for the people of Olmsted County, Olmsted County has no natural lakes for recreation, the residents surrounding Lake Zumbro are contributing their share of the costs by assessing themselves property taxes dedicated to the dredging, additional cubic yards of spoils can be removed from the lake bottom insuring a healthy lake for many future years, and the people of Olmsted County retain a valuable asset.