Mahtomedi City Council Seeking to Close White Bear Lake Ice Fishing Access

dandorn wrote:

I drive out of this beach a handful of times each winter.

The problem I see in fighting this possible closure is that it’s not considered a public access. It’s a beach.

I’m assuming it is owned by the city?

It is a city beach that obtained a DNR grant to maintain a PUBLIC access during the ice fishing season. We have spoken with the DNR and it seems cloudy on whether or not they have any legally binding agreements with this grant. We are going at this by showing the city that there are far more ice fishermen and outdoor enthusiasts that use this access, and will hammer home that limiting people from their own public access that their tax dollars maintain, because of a few households near the access would be a very irresponsible decision by the city council. I have said it to them from the start I keep hearing the word community tossed around by the home owners and council yet this decision would not consider the greater interests of the community.

It’s all a matter if we can connect more with the council itself.

mojo wrote:

Congratulations on your victory, well done. But unfortunately, if a councilmember wants something, it will happen. Usually they just change the narrative, something along the lines of “but this is for the safety of the public” will virtually guarantee they accomplish their agenda next time. This is how the swamp got so deep.
I applaud you in your current win, though, you did what’s right, and oftentimes that is just too difficult for most men.
Hold the feet of each and every politician to the fire, they’ve stolen our great country, and have turned it against us.

Couldn’t agree more mojo!

if noise and safety are an issue perhaps the city law enforcement could make an effort to crack down on teenagers taking daddy’s wrangler out to whip shitties on the ice. Forest Lake and WBL are the only places I’ve ever ice fished where my shack (and others) nearly got damaged by wreckless drivers. Both times a wrangler spinning around joy riding.

KPE wrote:

f noise and safety are an issue perhaps the city law enforcement could make an effort to crack down on teenagers taking daddy’s wrangler out to whip shitties on the ice

So does the city council want to completely shut off the access to everyone, walkers, ATVs, snowmobiles, and vehicles? Or are they just trying to cut off access with a vehicle? Seems to me that if they are upset about the noise, then go after the problem and not ruin it for everyone else.

KPE wrote:

if noise and safety are an issue perhaps the city law enforcement could make an effort to crack down on teenagers taking daddy’s wrangler out to whip shitties on the ice. Forest Lake and WBL are the only places I’ve ever ice fished where my shack (and others) nearly got damaged by wreckless drivers. Both times a wrangler spinning around joy riding.

Both those lakes are complete sh!!!!t shows. Chisago has become the same

I think the biggest thing is not the city council but the few landowners on the lake that think the rules of the landing should be changed to enhance there quality of life. As an owner of lake property myself does not give me any more right to the lake then anyone else. I love to hear lake front owners saying they pay all the taxes… I respond by saying yes for the view you have of all the taxpayers property. Keep up the fight!

There have been no legitimate safety concerns raised as far as I know, but it is one of the more sure-fire ways for tricky local governments to get questionable proposals to pass.
Apparently the City Council inquired the 14 households on Park Avenue about the matter, and 13 of the 14 wanted changes made. Here would be my initial proposal – tell them they can sell their property to Washington County for appraised value, and the County can turn the entire area into a nice beach and park that can be enjoyed by all the residents. Then there would be plenty of room for parking as well as a much needed boat access. That way only 14 households will be disrupted by changes instead of the hundreds of households of taxpayers that already paid taxes that made that land public property. Sounds fair to me.

Anyone living on a lake would want ZERO access of any kind anywhere,
however all lakes are public so anyone signing the petition should be heard as much as someone living on the lake ( i hear it, oh no no no its so different, blah blah blah) Heard a lyric once: … you say all men are equal all men are brothers, then why are the rich more equal than others?
This really is a class issue, really not too worried about it either way but call it what it is.

My question is:
How long has the access been there?
When did all the complainers buy their houses?
If they bought their house after the access was there then too bad!
Maybe they should sell their house and move if it bothers them so much.

It’s like building in the country next to a farm and after the house is up complaining about the farm smell. ?????

KPE wrote:

if noise and safety are an issue perhaps the city law enforcement could make an effort to crack down on teenagers taking daddy’s wrangler out to whip shitties on the ice. Forest Lake and WBL are the only places I’ve ever ice fished where my shack (and others) nearly got damaged by wreckless drivers. Both times a wrangler spinning around joy riding.

The Sheriff’s Office is actually in charge of the waterways. But yes, extra patrol sounds needed.
DT

We just had “the big” council meeting to determine the fate of the launch. The few residents near the launch were requesting that a gate be put up and hours be limited do mostly daytime hours and NO vehicle traffic at all. We made another large presentation to the parks commission at last week’s meeting which almost all the commissioners recommended there was not enough evidence to make such drastic changes and the city council agreed tonight. Even after a somewhat embarrassing, run on attempt by the few residents who wanted it restricted.

Now we will likely have to revisit this next year until these people figure out the community sees right through them, but as for 2020 there are NO restrictions on the winter access on the Mahtomedi side of White Bear Lake!

I’ll be having a glass of nice bourbon tonight! Thank you to all who signed the petition and supported this!

Cheers!

Thanks for the update and for all of your effort to keep this access open.

Dan

Great news! I feel like signing a petition may have actually done some good for once.

Hopefully the owners will keep at bay from here on out. My hunch is they will not. Not going to take much imagination to see next year’s meeting with pics of some of the carnage ice anglers tend to leave in their wake. And with next year’s chopping block of state cuts pending with the lack of income some accesses might get hit.

Doing some homework now on statements from local businesses, and perhaps an “adopt an access” program setup locally will help this to remain open for a long time to come.

Hope it doesn’t seem to be Debbie Downer, it’s fantastic what was done for this year, but there may be working at home homeowners who have nothing else better to do this winter than spy on activity that will benefit them in the years to come

Good work mahto!!! Thanks for keeping us informed and most important, for fighting for our rights!

Deuces wrote:

Hopefully the owners will keep at bay from here on out. My hunch is they will not. Not going to take much imagination to see next year’s meeting with pics of some of the carnage ice anglers tend to leave in their wake. And with next year’s chopping block of state cuts pending with the lack of income some accesses might get hit.

Doing some homework now on statements from local businesses, and perhaps an “adopt an access” program setup locally will help this to remain open for a long time to come.

Hope it doesn’t seem to be Debbie Downer, it’s fantastic what was done for this year, but there may be working at home homeowners who have nothing else better to do this winter than spy on activity that will benefit them in the years to come

Definitely. We are preparing for a big push back and the homeowners to have some “new data” ready for next season. The one big weapon we have in our back pocket is a few of the other homeowners that live on or near the access are completely against any kind of limitations being put on the access and were very vocal about that during tonight’s meeting, even saying that the complaints are “extremely exaggerated.”

Nice work, Mahto! Cheers to you!

What if you wrote up a flyer and/or post some signage up to have out there on the busy weekends explaining what is at stake and reminding people they are being watched and to keep it clean and help fight for Public access? Educate the users.

Man this b.s. really gets me squirrely and pi$$es me right off! I know dang well this is not going to be an isolated incident and will be a battle that will need to be fought no different than our battle with all public lands.

We should all send a message to MeatEater and see if we can convince Rinella and Co. to do a show about this on his new ice fishing series.

Normally my posts are a bit ummm “screwy”, and this one won’t be any different.

Turn the tables and call harassment.

The fishermen and other users of the access, are being harassed by 13 home owners and their homes should be closed. Someone else mentioned park and parking space. That’s actually a great idea…at least the threat of it.

It may never get off the ground but the 13 will know it’s being talked about.

Great to hear Mahto! Congrats on sticking to your guns and making this happen.

That shows what people can do when they stick with it. Good job and keep up the good work!

I want to thank you for all the hard work you did to raise awareness and make this happen Pete. Every person who goes out of that access this year owes you a debt of gratitude – especially if they catch a fish.

You saw people doing wrong and attempting to abuse their power for their own personal gain, and you took the initiative and brought attention to it, and then on your own time, you did the work to stop it from happening. You deserve more than a glass of bourbon. I’d be proud to buy you one sometime.

Glad to see you are preparing for push back, it almost certainly will come.
I wish you a fantastic hard water season. May you catch a personal best fish this season.

Good job being proactive! These lakeshore association people and homeowners would crap all over Average Joe Public if they had the chance.

I hope people at that access keep it really clean, even if it means picking up other people’s garbage, including the white mystery bags that we’d rather not touch.

You guys nailed it. We made some suggestions in our presentation in hopes that the city council would use those instead of more drastic measures.

1. Signage stating that excessive noise and littering will not be tolerated (city councils love signage, even though everyone knows they don’t do a darn thing).
2. A social media campaign making the fishermen aware of what is at stake if we don’t keep things in check.
3. Opening an old access that used to be used at another park about a mile and a half down the road to lighten some of the load on this access.

I know I will be making sure people know if they screw around at night and there are problems they could shut the access down.