Bill Tibbetts
Associate Broker 
July 18, 2007
Lake Vermilion State Park.
There’s fresh news all over the wires related to an announcement by Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty (with DNR Commissioner Mark Holsten). Lake Vermilion may have a new state park!
If you have followed Lake Vermilion news in recent history you may know that US Steel has proposed a large lakeshore development on the east end of the lake called Three Bays. The Governor’s announcement tells us the State of Minnesota is very interested in purchasing that tract for use as a future state park.
(This a an appropriate time to give anyone close to you an enthusiastic high five and a shout of “That’s what I’m talkin’ ’bout”.)
Lake Vermilion wins with this news as there is a strong element of stewardship in the announcement.
The DNR announcement is here. Other versions of the story are available at Minnesota Public Radio, the Duluth News Tribune, the Pioneer Press, the Star Tribune, and the KXMC News Team.
Update: Here’s an estimate on the dollars involved.
What do you think the St. Louis county reaction will be? They’d be the loser, from a property tax standpoint, and they seemed to be the one willing to bend the Lake Vermilion development plan guidelines to make the Three Bays development possible…
Comment by Chuck — July 19, 2007 @ 9:19 pm
Since the Governor’s announcement (about the proposed Lake Vermilion State Park) the overall response to the plan has been very positive. That agreeable attitude seems to be very wide spread. The county has expressed a concern about land ownership and tax revenue. A recent news article notes the following concerns of St. Louis County Commissioner Keith Nelson:
St. Louis County Commissioner Keith Nelson says he’ll support the new park idea — on one condition. He says more than 60 percent of the land in the county is government-owned, so the county misses out on tax revenue.
“Our only request back to the DNR, which is a very reasonable request, is that they would sell other properties within St. Louis County,” he says. “Waterfront properties that they hold presently, that would be of equal value to this new proposed park.” If other lakefront land were developed, Nelson says the county could do without taxes on new cabins on Lake Vermilion.
Comment by Bill — July 21, 2007 @ 1:02 pm