|
 |
Voters Say No Again On Lake Issue
|
|
|
For the second time in the past seven months Clear Lake residents have voted against creating a sanitary district around the lake.
The election was held on Friday and voters defeated the issue 123-114. Eight-seven percent of the eligible 272 voters cast ballots, with 181 residents voting absentee.
A total of 68 more voters had registered for last Friday's election than were eligible in the initial election held on Jan. 23. In that vote, 178 of the 205 eligible voters cast ballots, and the issue was defeated by just four votes, 91-87.
The Clear Lake Betterment Association (CLBA) had filed a second petition with the Marshall County Commission in July because of the closeness of that first vote. Thirty-three names were required on the petition, and 40 residents signed the document.
The association is concerned about the water quality at the lake, and forming a sanitary district would have opened up some funding avenues for the CLBA. The group had tried to get some grant money in the past to do some studies, but because the association was not a governmental unit it did not qualify for those funds.
If the sanitary district had been approved, the CLBA had indicated that it would go ahead and try to get some grants and look to do a feasibility study of a possible sewer project around the lake. But a majority vote would have done nothing more than form the district. Nothing else would have been put in place by the vote other than the election of a board of trustees.
A total of 210-220 houses and cabins now surround Clear Lake, and there are about 240 lots. In recent years there has been an increase in year-round residents at the lake, in addition to new construction.
|
|
©Marshall County Journal 2010
|
|
|
