The big rainstorm on July 20 was entertaining for bikers, swimmers, and kayakers who enjoyed the flooding in the Grand Marais municipal parking lot. It was not entertaining for some Hovlandites whose properties and roads were overcome for the fifth time in six years.
On July 26, Richard Olson and Shawn Perich asked the county board to address the flooding that keeps happening where Otis Creek meets the Arrowhead Trail. Saying he represented John and Sandy Bockovich and Amy Neilson as well, Olson read a letter that said, “When Otis Creek floods, a river of water flows down the west side of the Arrowhead Trail and floods across the North Road with fast moving water a foot deep. In the rain event last week, the runoff also flooded the Arrowhead, washing out the road shoulder, and then flowed into Highway 61. The waters also flood and cause significant damage on private property.
“The flood issues have gone unattended for at least six years and now is the time to deal with them,” Olson read. “We are tired of property damage, damage to the roadway and the public safety issues associated with flooded roads.”
When Otis Creek floods, Olson said, his driveway washes out, his rainwater collection system washes out, and his yard and garden are damaged.
Olson said that this issue has been brought to the attention of the county board and the county highway department for six years with no resolution. He said Flute Reed Partnership and local property owners, with grant money from the Great Lakes Initiative, have been working with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, Cook County Soil & Water, and consultant Dave Stark to consider options for improving the situation, but the highway department has been absent from these discussions.
“The flooding caused by the undersized culvert on the Arrowhead Trail is unacceptable,” Olson read. “We believe the county should work with Hovland property owners to resolve the flooding issues.”
Highway Engineer David Betts agreed that the Otis Creek culvert under the Arrowhead Trail – installed in 1960 – is too small and said his department has been looking into the problem. Replacing the culvert with a bigger one, however, could cause big problems for the Stonegate subdivision and Highway 61 downriver. Both of those also have undersized culverts, he said. Stonegate is private property and Highway 61 is under the purview of the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT).
Sending a bigger channel of water down the Arrowhead Trail ditch to Stonegate would probably “blow out” that road and cause damage to private property, Betts said, and he couldn’t “in good conscience” do that. That problem would be worse than the one upstream, he said, and Stonegate property owners would need to come up with money to replace their culvert.
MnDOT is planning to replace the culverts up and down Highway 61, Betts said, but he didn’t know when the culvert at the Arrowhead Trail would be replaced.
Betts said he and Maintenance Supervisor Russ Klegstad have been brainstorming options on how to divert the water or prevent other waters from joining Otis Creek before it reaches the Arrowhead crossing. “We have to deal with the downstream before we can deal with the upstream,” he said, adding that the Otis Creek watershed study being done by Flute Reed Partnership will be needed in order to make a workable plan.
“I don’t think there’s a person in this room who would tolerate what [Olson is] tolerating right now,” said Shawn Perich. “I want to see a timeline and some action.”
The board passed a motion directing Engineer Betts to attend an upcoming Flute Reed Partnership meeting and return to their August 16 meeting with a proposal for how to solve the problem.
Facility study committee
The board passed a motion authorizing commissioners Bruce Martinson and Fritz Sobanja to sit on a committee that will study future highway department building and grounds needs. Also on that committee will be County Maintenance Director Brian Silence, Highway Department Maintenance Supervisor Russ Klegstad, Highway Engineer David Betts, and County Auditor-Treasurer Braidy Powers as needed.
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