Hello i am a resident of Big Lake, MN and am just curious how can the city of Big Lake charge a fee to use a public water access? i don’t use the access, but i am just curious how they can charge $15 for a boat & vehicle per time. Thanks
to keep people off the lake and to make bank!, it gets REALLY busy in the summer.
I don’t know how familiar you are with the area but there is a neighborhood access on Mitchel that is only open on the weekdays if that helps. I used to live on Mitchel and that’s what I would use!
yes i agre it is a busy place. Just seems odd that every other lake in MN doesn’t do the same thing by having a volunteer sit at the access and collect $$. Thanks for the info.
Zach I’m not not trying to be a smarta$$ but I’m glad you’ve climbed out from under the rock 
I believe I’m around $1-200 on park/city/county access fees for launching the boat or fishing.
Off the top my head $30 Anoka, $30 mpls parks, $30 three Rivers, all I can think of now, but all public waters and all drive me crazy every year I pay em. It helps all the launches are pretty darned nice nowadays though.
I think it’s mainly to charge people going to the beach. Most people looking to fish are hitting other lakes in the area.
I’ve noticed this is not that uncommon in Wi. A number of “public” accesses fall under local municipalities, park boards, etc and can have launching fees associated with them. The City of Hudson public launch on the St. Croix is a good example.
Just recently we had a conversation with a guy associated with St. Paul Park regarding the Lions Levee public access on Pool 2. The conversation related to some maintenance items associated with the landing. There was some side commentary that it didn’t seem clear to all parties (meaning the city, state, dnr, etc.) who had jurisdiction and/or funding responsibility for the landing. Obviously, a municipality may not have the same operating budget to operate/maintain a public landing so it may be reason why some of them have fees.
The lake is public, anyone can use it.
The ramp is public, anyone can use it.
State Parks are public, anyone can use them.
Public does not equal free. I don’t know how folks expect the ramps to be poured and maintained with no funding. Two options, user fees or taxes. Choice seems pretty obvious to me.
Who pays for walking or biking paths? Just the people using them or everyone?
I think here in the metro the parks department maintains those paths — just like they maintain the free boat launches on Nokomis, Harriet, hidden falls, etc.
Not every municipality has the budget or tax base to support that, so they have to charge an access fee. Being required to pay doesn’t make it any less “public.”
Only about 5500 accesses are owned by MN, the rest might be, City, County or private. The Parks arent usually charging for lauching but for parking.
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