ELY, Minnesota (Northern News Now) – In recent years, efforts to preserve Ely’s great Northwoods image and environment have led to a war over copper-nickel mining.

Now there is a new dispute over the plans for a comprehensive expansion of the lake shore.

“You can see the remains of the original A-frame structure,” said Charles Marsden as he led a tour of his cabin on Farm Lake.

Marsden and his wife Marilyn fell in love with the Ely area 34 years ago while visiting from the East.

“We came here to canoe in the Boundary Waters,” Marsden said. “Now we spend five months of the year here.”

Now in their 80s, the couple stays active by leaving their motorboat at the dock and cruising Lakes Farm and White Iron Lakes on paddleboards and canoes.

It’s this love of fitness and nature that makes her concerned about her resort neighbor.

That neighbor is the Silver Rapids Lodge. At 105 years old, the fishing and family resort is clearly showing its age.

The huts are run down and there is a need for repairs all over the site.

“It just needs a little love,” said resort manager Theresa Grey.

She is helping manage the resort while two developers from other parts of the state have their eyes on a $40 million-plus renovation and expansion.

“They see the potential here,” said Grey. “They love this area, this place, they love Ely, the city, and what it offers people.”

It is a three-phase plan that is scheduled to begin this fall.

Phase one – demolition and reconstruction of the existing resort.

“All of these lakefront cabins are being completely renovated,” Grey said. “The lodge is being renovated.”

However, phases two and three are causing a stir.

Construction of 32 new, state-of-the-art cabins on both sides of the existing resort.

Each cabin can be purchased by up to four different owners who share time there at different times of the year. The cabins can be rented out as holiday homes when none of the owners are present.

A dozen boat slips and a waterfront tiki bar will also be added.

“I think this is a great opportunity to keep a resort here,” said Grey. “Like anything in life, there will be people for it and people against it.”

The Marsdens are against it.

“It’s about size and location,” said Charles Marsden.

The couple says the proposals are similar to resorts in the Brainerd Lakes area and are not the kind of attraction that should exist on a paddling-friendly lake bordering the Boundary Waters.

“We are concerned about the idea of ​​tripling the number of boats moored on this narrow stretch of water and we believe this will result in a significant increase in boat traffic,” said Charles Marsden.

“We cannot paddle and are limited in our canoeing,” said Marilyn Marsden.

The Marsdens are in good company with this view.

“You won’t find people paddling in a canoe and saying, ‘I’ll stop at the Polynesian tiki bar and then get back in my canoe,'” laughed Bill Wagner, the owner of a cabin on White Iron Lake.

Wagner has lived part-time at the lake for three years and spends the rest of his time in California.

“What really drew us here is that we don’t see people with lawns up here,” Wagner said. “This is truly God’s paradise.”

He fears that the natural beauty will be replaced by noise and negligence.

“All of these trees, many of these trees are being cut down,” Wagner said.

He is among hundreds of people who have signed a petition demanding that the project should require an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) worksheet.

“It’s a kind of initial review process that allows the community and decision makers to learn about the potential impacts of the project and to get community feedback on the project,” said Maggie Schuppert.

Schuppert works for a group called CURE, a rural advocacy group behind the petition. She says CURE is not necessarily against the project, but wants to ensure a European Arrest Warrant is executed because CURE believes it is a crucial part of the process.

“I hope the district recognizes that this is a good thing for the community and the decision-making process,” Schuppert said.

Lake County’s Environmental Assessment Ordinance states, with respect to an EAW, that certain guidelines “must be considered” when determining whether an “optional EAW is required.”

They are:

• Should the action take place in or near an area that is considered ecologically sensitive or aesthetically pleasing?
• Are disruptive effects of the measure to be expected, such as traffic and noise pollution?
• Are there any public questions or controversies regarding the environmental impacts of the proposed measures?

According to CURE, all of these criteria are met in the resort proposal and the company claims that this makes an EAW necessary in the case of the resort proposal.

“We are about transparency, about listening to the community and accepting and taking into account their feedback,” said Schuppert.

Ten miles down the road, Lake County Commissioner/resort owner/artist Joe Baltich paints a different picture of the calls for an EAW.

“It’s a tactic,” Baltich said. “I’m so used to tactics when it comes to the Boundary Waters, when it comes to copper-nickel mining, and now the development of a resort.”

Baltich said the Lake County Planning and Zoning Commission can be trusted to do its own due diligence in reviewing two zoning changes needed to move the project forward, and he believes it’s time to support plans for economic development in the Ely area.

“The anti-mining people say we need to do tourism,” Baltich said. “So tourism wants to come here, but they say, ‘No, no tourism, we don’t want that.’ The fact is that if we don’t pursue some kind of development in Ely, we will suffer.”

But for residents like the Marsdens, the impact would be more serious if the resort plans were to go ahead.

“We recognise that not everything should be about the paddlers, but they should be taken into account,” said Charles Marsden.

Silver Rapids Lodge – just the latest source of conflict related to economic expansion on the edge of the wilderness.

“I hope it continues and it will be just amazing,” Grey said.

At a meeting last week, the county Planning and Zoning Commission declined to recommend an EAW.

On Tuesday, the district council plans to meet and vote on whether to reject the application for a European arrest warrant.

A final vote on the project is expected on September 4.

We will keep you updated on the progress.

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