Create/assist a Lake Improvement District.
Best Practice of this action
Rating Guideline
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Work with property owners proximate to a lake to either create a new Lake Improvement District (LID), to help an existing LID set priorities for desired lake management activities, or to find funding (city and other) to strengthen a LID. |
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Report on measurable improvements resulting from the expenditure of LID tax dollars on lake management activities throughout the lakeshed; work with other environmental special purpose governments (such as watershed districts) to facilitate partnerships between them and LIDs to increase the scope and efficacy of surface water and ecosystem programs. |
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Establish or expand existing LID membership to entire lakeshed to set priorities for desired lake management activities. |
Resources
Minnesota Statutes allow local citizen initiatives to petition counties to create lake improvement districts in order to address specific concerns within a lake watershed that cannot be addressed under normal governmental actions. Citizens and local governments, including cities, willing to undertake such initiatives and tax themselves, benefit from greater local involvement in the management of their own lakes. DNR Division of Ecological and Water Resources provides oversight and assistance.
Establishment:
- Sustainable Lakes Planning Workbook: A Lake Management Model (Minnesota Waters: 2000) may be useful to a lake improvement effort.
- Reach out to lake associations to explore the potential benefits of establishing a LID for a lake in your community.
- Connect with other communities that currently administer LIDs to learn more about their experiences with this special purpose type of government and how to effectively administer them.
- Crow Wing County has developed extensive guidelines on establishing a successful LID.
- The cities of Excelsior and Greenwood entered into a Joint Cooperation Agreement (JCA) to administer a LID for St. Albans Bay on Lake Minnetonka. This LID was formed to manage aquatic invasive species (AIS) in the bay. The LID treats the bay to reduce the extent of Eurasian watermilfoil (EWM) and curlyleaf pondweed (CLP) and monitors it to detect the appearance of new invasive species. If new AIS are discovered, the LID would treat to limit them as well. Recently, St. Alban’s Bay participated in a zebra mussel control research project.
- Chisago County administers a lake improvement district that encompasses the entire Chisago Lakes Chain of Lakes watershed. There are 19 lakes in the watershed, collectively comprising over 7,000 acres of lake surface, and including the cities of Center City, Lindstrom, and large portions of Chisago City and Chisago Lakes Township. The LID was originally established in 1976 to mitigate high water levels. Over time, the LID’s mission has been expanded to address additional lake and surface water problems.
- The voluntary Loon-Friendly Lake Registry Program can help develop and implement a Loon-Friendly Lake Plan.
Order Number
7
Action Type
Finite