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Some of the confusion is that the Park Board is unique and has some of its own governing <br />statutes. When you co- mingle the process of the Board of Public Works when it comes to <br />disposing of property, it is easy to confuse the statute. <br />Councilmember Broden asked Mr. Schmidt who owns Mud Lake. <br />Mr. Schmidt stated that the lake itself is a public body of water, where the ownership comes into <br />it is really where you access the lake. If there's a public access point for the lake, then you can <br />get on the lake. That does not give you the right to just get out of the lake on anybody's private <br />property. You can do a variety of activities on the body of the lake, because the water itself is <br />public, but you have to have a public access point to get on the lake. There is a variety of ways <br />to work this out should the Council decide that it's going to sell the land or eventually move <br />forward with some sort of lease arrangement to maintain access to that lake for the public. If <br />there is private property all the way around that lake, then while the water is still public, there is <br />no ability for the public to access that public body of water. So right now, the north end of the <br />lake abuts private property, and the west and the south should be part of the public access point. <br />Councilmember Broden clarified that the recreation use depends on the availability of the public <br />access points. What is public access defined as? <br />Mr. Schmidt explained that to the extent that there is any means available to getting onto the lake <br />from public property it is public access. You cannot traverse over somebody's back yard and <br />drop your kayak or canoe in without a pre- existing easement. <br />Committeemember Aaron Perri asked whose responsibility it is to maintain the public water, <br />especially in the case that they would find invasive species in the water. <br />Mr. Schmidt explained that the DNR would probably tell us they have the ability to regulate the <br />waterways, but that doesn't mean they would take the responsibility to maintain them. <br />Councilmember Broden asked if there are any easements granted off of the private property that <br />abuts the lake, and Mr. Schmidt explained that there were none. <br />Councilmember John Voorde asked if the tree nursery had been sold, and Mr. Schmidt stated <br />that he didn't believe it had been sold, and that they are in the preliminary process to try to <br />protect the tree farm from sale, but he doesn't know if the final area plan and parcel has been <br />signed off on, everything has gone to a holding point right now. If the tree farm were to be sold, <br />it would come to the council for approval. If they were to subdivide it, they could do that on <br />their own. <br />Larry Magliozzi, Executive Director of the Plan Commission, we do have a plat on file that has <br />been submitted to plat off the tree farm, but it is on hold. A subdivision process is not a <br />subjective review, it is a very objective review. If you meet all of the conditions, you get platted. <br />There are certain items on the plat that need to be resolved, and those haven't been resolved yet. <br />We just heard last month or more that the City is going to put it on hold, so it is just sitting in our <br />drawers waiting for action by the City. Nothing is official yet, technically it is still in review. <br />