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City should hold off on Lake Alice project [UPDATED]
Published 10:07am Thursday, January 24, 2013 Updated 12:09pm Thursday, January 24, 2013City officials are considering a project that would permanently restore Lake Alice to its natural state. While this sounds like a wonderful plan, it comes with a price tag of about $5 million. We appreciate that the city took concerns of area residents into consideration and conducted the study to explore potential solutions, but because of other issues facing Fergus Falls right now, this should be something placed in the long-term plan for the city rather than an issue that needs to be taken care of here and now.
With the city finances tight, and a much-needed library renewal project on the horizon, we wouldn’t support any efforts by the City Council to push this through in the next year or two without clear and proven support from the community.
Because of the inevitable tax increase that would come along with the project, we think it is something that needs to come down to residents. We would fully support a referendum or extensive community survey to find out what percent of residents would be in favor of such a large-scale project.
It is our belief that the city has no reason to rush on this project, and if any decisions are made, it should include input from taxpayers.
