| For Immediate Release | For more information contact: |
| July 22, 2002 | Sandra Whalen (651-296-5529) |
Should the City of Lake Elmo be sued simply because it does not look like Oakdale? If one has to choose between freedom and efficiency, what is the more important value?
These are some of the important questions being considered by the members of a new oversight committee at the State Capitol, the Legislative Commission on Metropolitan Government. On July 22, the Commission was busy sorting out the latest run-in between the City of Lake Elmo and the regional planners at the Metropolitan Council.
From the view of the regional planners, Lake Elmo has it all wrong - it has shown an insufficient commitment to the expansion of sewer throughout Lake Elmo; it has preserved open, green spaces in ways that make it difficult for a Wal-Mart to be located there; and has avoided ringing Lake Elmo's Park Reserve with new townhomes.
The Metropolitan Council's dissatisfaction, of course, caught folks in Lake Elmo by surprise. They were sure that they had it just about right. The City of Lake Elmo was continuing to approve applications for new development - both for housing and commercial uses - only the development was consistent with Lake Elmo growing as a rural center. Development in the city occurs on larger parcels, complete with on-site sewer systems and with the preservation of green spaces adjacent to the lots that are developed.
As we told the members of the new Commission during a public hearing on Monday, Lake Elmo is indeed marching into the future, and developing; but it is at a pace that makes sense for local people, local pocketbooks and local water quality. And that is the way it should be.
A key concern for those who live in Lake Elmo, as well as those who believe that not every community in the metropolitan area should look like every other town, is the threat of a lawsuit. Under current law, the Metropolitan Council could take the City of Lake Elmo to court. The aim of such a suit would be two-fold: to force the City to abandon its practice of preserving green spaces as well as requiring them to adopt a development course that - in the Council's words - looks more like Oakdale.
For a number of reasons, we told the Commission, actual or threatened litigation is exactly the wrong course of action. First, it is not clear that the Council has the authority to demand a particular number, type or arrangement of houses in a city. Housing is not one of the "four systems" (sewer, transit, parks and airports) that the Metropolitan Council regulates. Second, hiring lawyers to resolve disputes between governmental agencies is both incredibly wasteful of tax dollars and directly counter to the pledges of greater cooperation made by Governor Ventura and Metropolitan Council Chairman Ted Mondale. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, the plans proposed by the Council staff run headlong into the most basic of American freedoms the ability to think and choose for oneself. In America, it has never been a sufficient reason to reduce someone else's freedoms because a government planner believes that fewer choices, in the long run, is a good idea.
If you agree with us, and you think that Lake Elmo should be able to chart its own, greener future, we hope that you will let Members of the Commission know. The Legislative Commission on Metropolitan Government is chaired by Senator Ann Rest and can be reached at G-4 State Capitol, Saint Paul, MN 55155.
State Representative Eric Lipman lives in Lake Elmo. Brian LeClair, the Republican Candidate for the Minnesota Senate from District 56, was raised in Lake Elmo.