PRECM 01-11-1978 - Laserfiche WebLink

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January 23, 1978 I'0: City Council ~~ Park Board P~iembers plow Brighton, I~in. FRQP~i: I~~Tr. c;: I~,7rs. Robert J. Erhard 1847 15th Ave . , I~~ .'r7. n?ew Brighton , Ian. After attending meetings of the Park Board, we feel compelled to write this letter to express our dissatisfaction with the way the Park Board is handling' the development of Long Lake Park. Pde take exception to i~,X'. I,aurice Anderson's cover letter to the Council dated 1-18-78, where he indicates the only opposition to the proposed plan is by Lakeshore residents.- According to the survey conducted by the city last Spring, 412 qu~estionaires were returned with 355 of the questionaires preferring a passive park;- picnic areas, hikir_g trails, bicycle trails, nature center, cross country ski trails and ,:~~~immirg beach being the facilities most desired according to a point assignment. j~lhile a majority of people expressed a desire for a passive park, the Park Board dis- re~arded this opinion and went ahead with a plan for an active park (according to their own description of the Long Lake seg- ment of the park) with overnight tent camping, public boat launch, canoe rental, lar~;e group picnic area, concession stands, ball field, etc. An active park, as proposed by the Park Board, is not in keeping with the size of the facility and will end up, if im- plemented, in ruining this beautiful resource. Already the snow- mobiles and motorcycles have chewed up vast areas of the hilly terrain, and it is still supposed to be private property. A survey was conducted in ~~lindward '!errace, where the majority of homeowners are not Lakeshore residents, and the association strongly desired a passive park with no large group picnic areas, concession stands, amusement stands, public boat launch, motorcycles, etc. The tabulated results of this survey will be presented to the Council by the President of the '~;indward Terrace Homeowners Assoc. , I~~ir. Steve :'hompson, 1860 15th Ave., z~T.W., a non-Lakeshore resident. By implementing the present Park Board proposal for this area, we feel the ultimate result will be closing the lake to all power boats as a lake this size cannot accommodate public boat lalznching where you could conceivably have 50 power boats water skiing, fish- ing, etc. at any given time. If this occurs our lake property value will be severely affected. Is the Council prepared to DECR~;ASE the taxes of all lake shore property owners to compensate for this loss? Is the Council prepared to police the proposed large picric facility if the group decides to have a kegger for a few hundred people?