Council OKs dredging bay in Whitefish Lake

An unusual dredging project defined as a "science project" on Whitefish Lake won narrow approval from the Whitefish City Council on Monday.

To rid Bay Point of an excessive silt accumulation, the Bay Point Homeowners Association asked for a major variance to dredge the marina. The plan is to suck out 1,800 cubic yards of silt and pump it a half mile across Dakota Avenue to the Murr gravel pit for disposal.

Bay Point is located in the southeastern corner of Whitefish Lake; the marina is owned and maintained by the homeowners association.

The proposal is precedent-setting because it's the first dredging project on Whitefish Lake in a natural area. Lazy Bay was dredged several years ago, but a canal in that area is a manmade feature created in the early 1970s prior to lakeshore regulations.

"To a degree it will be a science project on your own lake," Tri-City Planning Office Director Tom Jentz told the council. "This is a baby-steps program. It's not a save-the-bay program."

Concerned that other lakeshore owners would want similar silt removal, the council added a condition stipulating the Bay Point project is a test case and doesn't set a precedent for future dredging.

Availability of an empty gravel pit makes the Bay Point project unique, Jentz said. By extracting the silt in a way that prevents it from returning to the lake, it avoids oversight from the Army Corps of Engineers, thus allowing an easier permitting process.

The current silt buildup prevents about half of the homeowners in the association from using their boat slips, said Joe Matulevich of Schwarz Engineering. Homeowners approached Schwarz about a year ago to design the dredging, and the Lakeshore Protection Committee studied the proposal, ultimately recommending the dredging.

A couple of Bay Point neighbors said they wanted to be involved in the project so a wider swath of Bay Point could be dredged.

Karen Lauridsen, who lives in a home near Bay Point, said silt is more than knee-deep from the shore out about 30 to 40 feet and then turns ankle-deep.

"It's a shame we weren't given the opportunity to be involved with this," Lauridsen said.

The cost makes is difficult for smaller groups of homeowners, such as the 10 or 12 homeowners near Bay Point, to develop a dredging project on their own.

Debbie Biolo, another Bay Point neighbor, said the Lazy Creek dredging in the 1970s caused Bay Point to fill with about a foot of silt.

"Our concern is that dredging only a portion of the bay could displace the remaining silt that may redeposit itself around the bay," Biolo said.

She echoed Lauridsen's request that all property owners be involved instead of "just cleaning up one small area in the bay."

Jentz said the lakeshore committee struggled with the issue of how big an area to dredge, but in the end decided to confine the project to the marina area.

Council member Tom Muri maintained an environmental impact study hadn't been property completed, and wondered if a complete legal review had been done.

"If this is a test case we've already failed," Muri said. "The bare minimum of due process wasn't followed in my opinion."

Jentz said lakeshore regulations were followed, and they don't call for a full-blown environmental impact statement. Even though local regulations mention the need for an environmental study, the rules were written "in the NEPA and MEPA era" Jentz said, referring to national and state environmental laws.

"It was a catch phrase then, but not something that's administered at the local level," he said. "Cost is a big factor."

When council members questioned why Schwarz hadn't brought a hydrologist into the study, Mayor Andy Feury pointed out that lakeshore committee member John Muhlfeld is a hydrologist.

"John Muhlfeld is a very good hydrologist and for him to sign off on this" shows the project has merit, Feury said.

The council ultimately decided it would rely on the recommendation of the lakeshore committee, which Feury said is one of the hardest-working and most thorough committees.

Muri and Velvet Phillips-Sullivan voted against the dredging; Erik Garberg abstained because he's employed by Schwarz Engineering.

Even with Feury's endorsement of the lakeshore committee, doubts lingered.

"I don't know that we'll ever have the complete information we need for this project," Feury said. "Taking one scoop of mud out is probably not the ultimate solution."

Dredging is restricted to low-water conditions between Oct. 1 and May 10; the dredging may be carried out this spring.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com