April 2001 Newsletter - Green Lake Property Owners Association

I hope everyone managed to survive the long winter. It has been a while since we have had a typical Minnesota winter like this one.

Hopefully it won't be too long before we will be enjoying the warm summer days and beautiful Green Lake. I am sure all of us are looking forward to another great summer with our family and friends.

The Green Lake Property Owners Board will be hosting a celebration picnic on July 14, 2001 at the Green Lake Bible Camp from 11:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. Lunch will be served to all residents of Green Lake at no charge to show appreciation to you for your cooperation during the water and sewer project. Everyone that has been a part of this project will be invited so that you may have a chance to visit with them and express your appreciation. This will be a time when we all can celebrate the near completion of three years of inconvenience.

I would like to thank all of you for the patience and under- standing that you have displayed during this project. A project of this size takes cooperation from all parties involved and that was exactly what happened around Green Lake.

Be sure to mark this date on your calendar. More information will be available as the date draws nearer.

The Green Lake Property Owners Association along with the Kandiyohi County Lakes Association will sponsor a training session regarding Eurasian Water milfoil at the Dethlof Center in Spicer on Saturday, May 5th from 9:00 to 11 :00 a.m. Coffee and rolls will be available at 8:30.

The instructor will be Ms. Tiffanie Knapp, DNR Watercraft Inspection Program Instructor. "This will be about identifying milfoil and etiquette when confronting someone.

Please get as many people as you can to attend this training seminar. We have six public boat accesses on

Green Lake and we are looking for volunteers to assist the two people who have been hired to run this program.

This will be a volunteer program, but we need your help! Please help Green Lake in that we do not wish to have EURASIAN WATER MILFOIL spread!

We asked for, and received, $5,500 from the Kandiyohi County water quality board for the purpose of hiring a person to check boats and educate people about Eurasian Water milfoil. The DNR will hire another; one will be full time on Green Lake the other will roam the county.

We also asked for, and received, $3,500 from the Kandiyohi County Commissioners to place 50 signs on all the boat accesses of the county. These signs will be in place prior to the fishing opener.

Please mark your calendar for Saturday, May 5th, as we must work together to stop the spread of Eurasian Water milfoil.

In early March, all property owners on Green Lake were mailed a progress report and a copy of Sewer, Water and Road Payment Formulas and Policies. It is hoped that everyone took the time to read these communications. We will have the opportunity to discuss these issues at the Property Owners meeting on June 15th or you can call Gary Danielson at the county offices 320-235-3266 -or sewer and water district members Harvey Lange 320-220-2243 or 763-588-5430 & Ollie Hagen 320-796-5925.

The water treatment plant and the sewage treatment plants are both working very good. The water quality is excellent. We still have 86 homes on the north shore to be connected and we have 183 homes on the East shore to connect. We are hoping that these connections can get started in April so that summer interruptions will be minimum.

The Indian Beach road bridge is currently out and work on the new bridge has started. The new bridge must be completed by May 15th or daily penalties will apply.

The County 10 improvements on the south shore are scheduled for bid on April 3 and hopefully, work will start as early as the weather permits.

I do not have dates for the OPEN HOUSES planned for the Water treatment plant and the Sewage treatment plant. We are also waiting to hear when the final assessment hearing will be for this entire project. We will be able to provide this information to everyone at the Property Owners meeting on June 15th.

This report is an update on the status of ongoing water and sewer improvements in the GLSSNWD.

The water treatment plant near Johnson's Auto Body has been in operation for a year and is complete except for some warranty items. The quality of water produced by the plant is excellent.

The wastewater treatment plant east of Green Lake has been operating since August. However, the solids handling equipment has just started operation. It took nearly six months of wastewater treatment to produce enough biosolids, (or sludge), to start the process. The first fully treated and dried sludge will be produced by the plant and available to farmers this month. A garage and shop building will be built this summer completing the plant construction.

Water Towers

The water towers are complete. However, the Green Lake Tower was emptied to prevent freezing. Freezing will not be a problem once more hookups around the lake are made and the water main is connected to Spicer's water main on Lake Avenue.

There are 86 out of 198 homes that aren't connected to the new water and sewer service. This work should resume in April. The recreational trail paving bid opening is April 3rd. Once Quam Construction installs the remaining service lines and the trail is paved, North Shore Drive and the Old Mill Road will have a final paving layer placed by Duininck Bros., Inc.

East Shore Improvements

Major work is complete except for the new bridge at Indian Beach, final paving and sidewalk or trail construction. The new bridge at Indian Beach is being built and should be done by May 15th. The road will remain closed during bridge construction. A lot of finishing and clean up work remains. Quam Construction completed service connections for 41 homes but 183 remain to be done this spring. The east shore will remain a busy place during the spring and summer. Final paving will follow the other work.

Bids will be opened on this last remaining segment of sewer, water and road construction east of the Spicer City limits March 20th. Construction should start in early May. The road may be closed for up to two months once construction starts,

The assessment hearing was delayed from last year until this year so that all projects with assessment costs would be substantially complete. One of the big question marks has been the final cost of the 600 service connections or hook ups that are part of the project. They should be nearly complete by July 1st. With these costs nailed down, the hearing can take place the early part of August.

Delaying the assessment hearing until this year created a funding shortfall. The reprieve in paying assessments left $370,000 in loan interest payments due this year without a source of funding. The GLSSWD Commission decided to solve this problem by increasing this year's sewer service fee to cover these interest payments. The increase will be $513 for each unit currently paying $368 per year, or a total of $881 for the year. Sewer fees are split between 1st half property tax statements due in May and 2nd half property tax statements due in October.

Proposed payment formulas and policies have been developed to set future assessment costs on individual properties. The general formulas have been discussed at past hearings and meetings, but some of the proposed policies have not. We're enclosing these formulas and policies with this mailing for your information. We will update projected assessment amounts as more work is completed this spring and send the information to you in a separate mailing

If you have questions or concerns regarding any of the items in the formulas or policies, please feel free to give us a call. Questions or comments now will help us fine-tune these proposals before they become part of this summer's formal assessment hearing process.

Harvey Lange GLSSWD Chairman Ollie Hagen. GLSSWD Commissioner. 320/796-5925
Gary D. Danielson, P.E., Public Works Director. 320/235-3266

Those who have been here the entire long, cold and snowy winter that set or neared records several times might want to skip to the rest of the newsletter. Even those who were in sunnier climes might shiver a bit in recollection of what they missed but kept track of through news reports and e-mails from relatives and friends. Suffice it to say that 'temperatures spiraled down the day after the last general election and didn't reach 50 degrees above zero again until 148 days later. (Any political implications are left to your own conjecturing.) Several times the snow fell as gentle, Ivory soap flake glistening. Another time snow raged in with over 8" one Friday night and another 8" the next-followed by 45 mph winds that Sunday. Doors were frozen shut or blocked by 2' drifts. Snowplows, front-end loaders, and strong backs were needed to clear the way after that storm. Shoveling becomes a bit difficult when the drifts are waist deep and shoulder high. We had a day and a half of January thaw; the slowly warming sun managed to melt just enough snow to form a layer of ice underneath it all, frequently.

Not to let winter get us down, Spicer put on a Winterfest in January that began with the building of another Ice Castle and several weekends of festivities, including snowmobile racing and a golf tournament on the ice. Except when bad weather or a fog rolled in, it was successful as far as I know.

The little homed larks came back in February, darting from one side of the roads to the other. The ditches were so packed with snow, I couldn't figure out what they were finding to eat.

In spite of all the snow, the first chipmunk scampered out from its hidey-hole the first days of March (at Green Lake the month came in like a reluctant lamb even though other parts of the country had stormier weather). The birds had not been singing early as in other years, but they gratefully frequented the suet and sunflower seed feeders. The pileated woodpecker drilled on a soft spot in the basswood tree. Grey squirrels and a couple of red squirrels had been scampering in the trees and across decks and balconies all winter.

By mid-March the first Canada geese Veed into sight, finding open water by the outlet, honking late into the night. Swans joined them one weekend. The next weekend the swans were replaced by white pelicans; now the coots are in full force in that area. Somewhat of a "from the sublime to the ridiculous" when you stop to think about it.

The first day of spring brought the first robin. The next day a sharp-shinned hawk nailed another robin (I hoped it wasn't the same one) right after it crashed into my window three feet from where I was sitting. (At least it wasn't as gruesome a~ the incident one lake resident told me about -when he'd once seen a grackle decapitate a morning dove,) By the next week we had hundreds of robins in the trees and on the open patches of lawn,

In March I also saw two eagles, complete with white head and tail soaring over County 4 between the lake and County 40. A few days after I learned about turkey vultures in the area, an illustration in the paper differentiated between the flight of the eagle and turkey vulture-the latter makes a slight V with its wings in flight. Shortly after that, along County 40 on the way to New London, I saw two them soaring over a stubble field. On my way home, they were sitting in another field near the road-the red, not-very-attractive heads very evident.

More attractive are the great blue herons and the kingfishers that have also returned. They sit on the edge of the ice, in the open sloughs, or on signposts, respectively, watching for some hapless fish or frog, perhaps, to swim by.

The lake ice is black and porous, but the nights have been too cold to do much melting. A recent cartoon showed people sitting in snow, watching Fourth of July fireworks-that didn't seem too farfetched, the way spring was ratcheting in to Minnesota. That term isn't original with me-1 read it years ago and came across it again not long ago. It's so appropriate for this year. Garrison Keillor last week commented on its not taking intelligence to be a writer "so long as you steal from the right people." After I'd begun writing these observations on nature for the Green Lake Breeze. I realized I'd adopted Jim Gilbert's title for his Nature Notes. So far, he hasn't objected. In fact, he's been very generous in permit- ting us to use the Nature Notes he publishes in the Star Tribune as fillers in our publication. We'll keep them on file for those needs.

In spite of all our talk of cold and snowy ice, tulips are up 3-4", red-winged blackbirds join other birds in song, ring-billed gulls soar above, hermit thrushes pass through in migration, and a hint of green appears in the woodlands.

April 22- The loons are back, and the lake is opening up with peninsulas of open water ringed by ice floes, now piling up along the shore.

The new bridge across the lagoon at the Indian Beach Resort is under construction, necessitating some of us on Indian Beach Road driving the long way around to get our mail or go to Spicer, as we did last summer. When the last of the drifts have disappeared and the prodigious mud has finally dried up, reconstruction of yards and driveways can take place.

Several homes along Indian Beach Road were broken into this winter and items taken. One was of a year-around resident; the owner had left to work his night shift. Another was that of a couple away for three months. Others were those of seasonal residents. Some did not have the GLPOA patrol signs posted; others did.

DNR Fisheries stocked Green Lake in the fall of 2000 with walleye finger- lings, and have modified the experimental regulations on bass beginning in 2001 to allow harvest of bass under 14" in length.

Reasons for the actions are as follows. Green Lake has had experimental fishing regulations since 1997 to improve the quality of northern pike and bass angling. The rules have required no harvest of northern pike 24" and larger, and catch and release only for bass. Northern pike have responded to the regulations as expected with moderate improvement in quality size fish, while maintaining relatively stable population levels. Small mouth bass showed an improvement in size, however, the number of bass increased greatly over the pre-regulation abundances.

Spicer Area Fisheries held public meetings in summer and fall 2000 to provide Green Lake fish population monitoring information, and to gather input from anglers about their observations and concerns. Anglers were pleased with the increase in average walleye size, but were worried about sustaining the "good" walleye fishing. They were also pleased with the bass fishing, but were concerned for how it might affect the walleye fishery. There was concern especially for lower reproduction of walleye as sampled by electro fishing each fall since implementing the regulations.

The abundance of adult walleye since the experimental regulations has remained above the historical average for Green Lake. Green Lake still ranks as one of the best walleye lakes in the state.

Spicer Fisheries stocked Green Lake with 100,455 walleye fingerlings in fall 2000. I recommended a change in the bass regulations to modify the no harvest of bass to: no harvest of bass 14" and larger (small mouth and largemouth) beginning with the 2001 bass season. The regulation change has been approved.

The change in the experimental regulation for bass on Green Lake will allow angler harvest to control the abundance of bass, while maintaining a quality fishing opportunity.

Spicer Area Fisheries will continue to monitor Green Lake through annual test netting and electro fishing surveys, A creel survey will be conducted this summer to monitor angling success. We will continue to solicit public input, and will actively manage Green Lake to provide the best fishing into the future.

The web site will continue bringing the notices regarding the Green Lake Sewer and Water Project from Kandiyohi County and Duininck Bros. Construction during the coming months. The Green Lake Web Site links to those reports and adds additional information. The last part of the project will find Lake Ave. S. under construction. Continued work on the bicycle trail and hookups for sewer and water will be finished during the summer. Also check the web site for the date and time for Caterpillar Spraying. An alternative date will be selected in case of weather problems. In addition 200 I Membership Forms and information are available. The web site will have information regarding Milfoil and the need for volunteers in doing boat and trailer checks. A complete listing of events in the community will also be provided along with special projects sponsored by the association. If you have events to submit please contact us via the association e-mail. Hopefully, more pictures will be included for postcards and web pages. Any pictures you have can be submitted and will be returned to you. In the News will contain media releases concerning Green Lake. Remember to tell your friends and relatives to bookmark www.greenlakespicer.com. A new link is a web site about the Hultgren Lodge. You will find it interesting! http://hometown.aol.com/millcity99/hultgren/home.htm

Upstream of the Old Mill Inn Dam, the nutrient inflow from upriver has traditionally been viewed as a major problem.

Another reason for forming the association was that requests for assistance from a single lake carry little weight. We needed the support of a 179 square mile watershed and seven lake associations, including Green, Nest, Calhoun, Elkhom, N. Long, George and Monongalia to gain the attention of the grant agency. To make a long story short, it took two tries and a lot of work but the combination worked. We were successful in obtaining a Phase I Clean Water Partnership Grant in April, 2000 in the amount of $105,500 which when considering the 50-50 cash and in-kind requirement, which we must match locally, provides a budget of $211,000.

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency administers the grant, approves the work plan, and provides technical assistance. Kandiyohi County provides financial management. The Middle Fork Crow Association serves as Project Manager. The Department of Natural Resources and the Natural Resource Conservation Service (formerly the SCS) both provide technical assistance and along with the lake associations, participates in the various field studies. We have retained under contract the services of Blue Water Science Inc. and Schuler Environmental Engineering. It is without a doubt a large undertaking.

Recently we have become involved with the Minnesota Department of Transportation in their plans for expanding highway 23 from two to four lanes as it passes through Spicer and North over Nest Lake. It is our understanding that we will be collecting some of the background water quality data needed to determine what effect the project might have upon Nest and Green lakes.

Throughout the years that we have studied Green Lake, we have been hindered by the high cost of obtaining hydrologic or flow data which enables us to quantify or "load" the chemical data. Our present study remedies this problem and will enable us to come up with a hydrologic and nutrient balance sheet. We will be able to see how much phosphorus is entering the lake, how much is stored in the sediments, fish, etc. and how much is leaving the lake. We are working with a dynamic, extremely complex ecosystem that is in a constant state of flux. Hopefully this study will answer some of the more perplexing questions.

As of the 23d of April, Green Lake is still frozen over although it is breaking away and piling up along parts of the shoreline. The average ice-out date is the 17th of April. The latest on record is the 7th of May (1951). The ice went out on the 7th of April in 1998 and the 6th of April in 1999. So much for an early Spring!

The year 2000 was rather unusual in that many of the inflowing tributaries went dry by July. Lake levels were low. It appears that this year with all its flooding, we may see the other end of the spectrum. Dr. McAfee has again agreed to do the Secchi disc sampling. He deserves a pat on the back for his effort. His readings last year showed a water transparency that averaged 9.6 feet for the June 15 -September 15 period. We have participated in the Citizen's Lake Monitoring Program since 1978. While we do see year-to-year fluctuations, no long-term trends are apparent in the data.