Re: $300 lake assessment

To Whom It May Concern,

This response is being drafted to try to answer questions with regards to the $300 special assessment feeon your 2009 Property Tax Statement.

The Coon Lake Improvement Association (CLIA), a non-profit 501C3 organization in existence since 1989, is a voluntary group of lakeshore owners, dedicated to maintain and improve Coon Lake in part by assisting in the development of local lake restoration and protection programs. In 2003, Eurasian Water Milfoil (EWM), an Aquatic Invasive Species (AIS) was discovered in Coon Lake and has since experienced rapid growth and can be found in nearly 1/3rd of the lake.

In 2004, CLIA partnered with the City of East Bethel and obtained grant monies from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) for a lake assessment. CLIA felt it imperative that property owners needed to take action to move uniformly toward a common goal of improved lake quality, by controlling and maintaining noxious and nuisance lake vegetation. Treatment and control of EWM that had in fact made many parts of the lake unusable was beyond the scope of CLIA’s volunteer organization. CLIA was not capable of raising enough money to solely fund the treatments to maintain and control the spread of EWM. A committee was established to research options available to CLIA. After exhaustive research, and discussions with other groups such as the Sunrise Watershed District and other groups, it was agreed the best vehicle for this effort would be to form a Lake Improvement District (LID). Thus, the CLIA board created the Coon Lake Improvement District Advisory Committee (CLIDAC), comprised of some CLIA officers and other dedicated people around the lake. In order to establish that district, a petition was signed by over 2/3 of Coon Lake landowners and the petition was reviewed and unanimously approved by the Anoka County Board of Commissioners in January 2008. The Coon Lake Improvement District, CLID, is made up of anyone that owns lakeshore on Coon Lake. Every property is assessed the same fee.  At the first annual CLID meeting last July, lakeshore owners approved the $300 assessment and a 2009 budget of up to $145,000 to battle the invasive species. $300 is the cap assessment and it will hopefully go down as the invasive species problem is under control.

Here are links to the CLID and CLIA websites. www.clidmn.org and www.mnwaters.org/coonlake

On the CLID website, it may be of interest to review the Communication to Members, Meeting Minutes and By-Laws links. We hope this helps answer any questions you may have or you may attend one of the CLID meetings. The CLID meets at 7:00 pm the second Wednesday of each month at the Coon Lake Community and Senior Center (CLCSC), 182 Forest Rd, in the Coon Lake Beach area. It will hold its’ second Annual Meeting on the 4^th Wed of July, of which notices will be sent via U.S. Mail to all residents of the district and it will also be posted in the Anoka County Union newspaper.

To be informed of current lake issues via regular emails and newsletters, become a member of the Coon Lake Improvement Association or begin to attend their monthly meetings held at 7:00 pm on the third Thursday of each month with their General Membership meetings the same time in the months of May and October.

Everyone involved with CLID or CLIA are volunteers. These are hard working volunteers, your neighbors, trying to preserve Coon Lake as a resource and help maintain and enhance CLID lakeshore owner’s property values.  We encourage you to get involved in the lake association and lake improvement district. 

Respectfully,

Michael Bury

CLID Chairman 

612 618 1372