HomeMy WebLinkAbout1989-11-06 Star Tribune News Article Re Boat Ramp 0 .574,ez - e/zt,04/6 11./bio,
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D NR to build ublic New boat ramp site
boat p IT >:. ! Hwy64 35
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ramp on St. Croix
By Jim Adams some opportunity to gain access to County Rd. E
Staff Writer • public waters," said Kathleen Wal- - R Houlton
lace, DNR's metro region adminis-
Still ® Wisconsin
The first large, free public boat ramp trator. water Sunnys
on the lower St. Croix River will be
built in Oak Park Heights., A 20 -space ramp just north of Still- Marina .
water is the only other free public Hwy. 95 ®ew Hwy. 35
The Minnesota Department of Natu- ramp on the St. Croix below O'Brien ramp
ral Resources (DNR) has reached a State Park, near the small city of H wy. 3t site
preliminary agreement to acquire Marine on St. Croix, Wallace said
about 41 acres for a boat ramp with ® Closed
80 parking spaces for cars with trail- The new ramp, to open in the spring Oak Park , ramp
ers. of 1991 at the earliest, will be built Heights
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just north of an unmarked free ramp MinneSOta crokr;
For the last 10 years we have seen closed last spring on property owned n er .
increasing privatization of the river- by Northern States Power (NSP), she Bayport
way with increased marina, condo- said Hwy. 95
minium and (landowner) access.
This will give the general public Boats continued on page 6B Star Tribune map
Boats Continued from page 1B
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After people complained about the cost sharing agreement, officials said.
old ramp closing, the Minnesota
Wisconsin Boundary Area Commis- Oak Park Heights this summer tried
sion began looking for a new ramp to restrict use of the new ramp to city
site, said Dan McGuiness, associate residents. But the City Council decid-
director of the agency, which moni- ed in September not to oppose the
tors river use. ramp and not to pay for any costs
associated with it, said Mayor Frank
McGuiness said he expects to an- Sommerfeldt.
nounce the preliminary agreement on
the new ramp as soon as a site map is Wallace said the DNR searched for
ready, probably within a week. He more than a decade for public ramp
said the agreement would be subject sites on the lower St. Croix. She said'
'to final approval of NSP executives the department will seek state money
and the commissioners of the Metro- to build the ramp, access road and
politan Waste Control Commission, parking lot, and is optimistic about
both of which would donate land. receiving the funds. Upon comple-
tion, the DNR will have reached its
Stillwater, which recently discovered limit of 100 car - trailer parking spaces
it owned a slim piece of the ramp on the lower St. Croix.
site, is getting the piece appraised for
sale to the DNR, said City Coordina- The ramp is expected to cost between
tor Nile Kriesel. $150,000 and $200,000, and will be
the largest DNR ramp in the metro -
NSP, which operates the Allen S. politan area. The DNR also is look-
King power plant south of the new ing for a site south of Stillwater to
ramp site, closed the old site last build a smaller ramp. Spaces in that
spring because of increased dumping, ramp would result in fewer spaces at
vandalism and damage from all -ter- the Oak Park Heights ramp because
rain vehicles. It had been used by of the 100 -space limit. ; .
fishermen and boaters since the King
plant opened about 20 years ago. Steve Johnson, a DNR official, said
that about $18 million in public
The Waste Control Commission op- money has been spent over the past
erates a sewage treatment plant just 25 years to preserve the St. Croix
north of the new ramp site. The com- River. Free parking at public ramps
mission expects to donate a piece of is important, he said, because the
land needed for a new road from DNR did not want the river to be
Hwy. 95 to the ramp, said Pauline used only by those who could afford
Langsdorf, a commission spokes- marina ramp charges or riverfront
woman. The agency and DNR are property. _
working out a road maintenance and
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