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Lake Vermilion park hits a snag

Published (3/14/2008)
By Nick Busse
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A bill sponsored by Rep. David Dill (DFL-Crane Lake) would establish the Lake Vermilion State Park — but with some strings attached.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty has been a vocal proponent of the plan to establish a new state park on a 3,000-acre block of undeveloped land on Lake Vermilion in northeastern Minnesota. Dill said he supports the plan too, but with one caveat: if St. Louis County is going to sell the land for the park to the state, Dill wants the state to give some of its land to the county too.

His bill, HF3433, would authorize the Department of Natural Resources to acquire the land for the park — but only if the state then ceded an equal amount of school trust land to the county. The Lake Vermilion State Park would then be designated as a school trust land, with park revenue going toward the state’s school trust fund.

“We need to have an offset, so that as this land is taken off the tax rolls, and becomes public for a state park, that we have other lands that are owned by the state that will then be put on the tax rolls,” Dill said.

Assistant Commissioner Bob Meier said the department had “drastic concerns” about the plan, noting that the DNR just finished exchanging all of the school trust lands out of the park system.

Other opponents included Judy Erickson, government relations director of the Parks & Trails Council of Minnesota, who said it would set a bad precedent for the state to pay for a new state park and then have the park's revenues go somewhere else.

Members of the House Environment and Natural Resources Committee didn’t like the plan either. A motion to approve the bill March 11 and send it to the House Finance Committee failed on a division vote of 6-6.

A companion bill, SF3076, sponsored by Sen. Tom Bakk (DFL-Cook), awaits action by the Senate Finance Committee.

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