Diamond Lake Nature Trail?
Due to some disagreement between neighbors on Diamond Lake Lane, as I understand it, earlier in 2006, one of them complained about the other one's mowing the grass adjacent to their back yard that happens to belong to the Minneapolis Park Board (that Park Board staff had even requested them to mow and that they had been mowing for many years). As the complainer is a friend of Michael Schmidt's, the Park Board responded by putting up a sign in the middle of the back yard of the mower - interfering with their view of the lake, but hardly visible to anyone else.
The person complained against tried to fight with the Park Board to have the sign removed through an attorney, who apparently had no luck. He also notified his neighbors that there would be a discussion at the August 2 Park Board meeting of a proposed nature trail around Diamond Lake. There must have been at least a dozen people who attended and were allowed to speak during Open Time. (See the web cast on the Park Board's web site - [shows.implex.tv/Qwikcast/Root/minneapolis/508/preflight.htm])
In spite of all the expressions against such a nature trail, after the 8/2 Park Board Meeting, on 8/7 Michael Schmidt sent a letter to all the property owners around Diamond Lake, putting them on notice to stop encroaching on Park Board land - including structures, underground water sprinkler systems and mowing - by October 10, 2006. This letter also said they planned to put a wood chip or gravel nature trail around the south end of Diamond Lake with overlooks park benches and picnic tables, even though Commissioner Kummer had assured the people attending the meeting this was just being studied and there was no definite plan for the trail.
Diamond Lake property owners organized and held two meetings, signed two petitions against the nature trail and talked with as many Commissioners as would respond to calls. The Commissioner for District 6, Carol Kummer, where Diamond Lake is located, has been non-responsive as of this writing. KSTP did a story on the proposed trail.
In the Park Board meeting on 9/6, there was considerable discussion on the issue of encroachments, (see web cast [shows.implex.tv/Qwikcast/Root/minneapolis/534/preflight.htm]) and Commissioner Dziedzic pointed out that the Park Board relies on private citizens to mow the grass on boulevards and water trees and would not be able to maintain these without their help. He also said that in sticky situations, face-to-face communication would be better than just sending a letter. Commissioner Nordyke asked Superintendent Gurban if the staff would notify Diamond Lake property owners that the October 10 deadline would be removed or extended to allow time for adequate dialog while the Board considered all the issues.
In a letter dated 9/11 addressed to Residents, Superintendent Gurban did not mention the October 10 deadline, but only stated that they had hired surveyors to determine what property the Park Board owns around the lake and requesting residents to respect that process.
How does a private dispute get escalated like this? Why couldn't the original people have resolved their issue without involving the Park Board? Why can't the Park Board control the actions of the staff? Do surveyors decide who owns what? Will there be a nature trail put around more of Diamond Lake (creating huge safety issues for homeowners)? Will the October 10 deadline be rescinded?