Flooding has been an issue in Minnesota after late winter snowstorms and heavy spring rains.

 

The Clearwater Twp. Board heard about a flooding problem closer to home during Monday’s monthly meeting. Gary Porter and Erik Achman approached the board about rising water on their properties across Hart Ave. from Sugar Lake.

 

“I have owned that lot since 2004, and for approximately the first 11 to 12 years, there was probably no water there whatsoever,” said Porter. “Because of the water I’ve got tree damage. The value of that property has gone down considerably. Wright County deemed it as a residential lot. But it doesn’t look like one now.”

 

Supervisor Rose Thelen asked what had changed.

 

“That’s the question,” said Supervisor Bill Langenbacher. “One of the things that changed is the amount of rain we’ve had. Lakes are high. Rivers are high. Ponds are high.”

 

But Porter said the water began seeping in long before the wet spring. It started appearing three years ago. 

 

“For the first 10 years that I’ve lived there I could mow right along the fence line every single year,” he said. “Now the last three years we’ve got four to five feet of water that was never there before.”

 

Achman said the water is creeping towards his home. Now it’s only a few feet away from his foundation.

 

Langenbacher said after looking at GIS map, the only outlet is through a meandering swamp.

 

“It looks to me on this map like somebody may have raised the land through there, not allowing the water to run,” he said. “The problem we face as a township is, we don’t have the authority to regulate what happens on private property.” 

 

“Nor do we have any infrastructure of our own that would drain that, like a culvert going across that road,” said Supervisor Scott Miller.

“If something’s blocking this, what options do we have?” asked Achman. 

 

“That’s a good question,” said Langenbacher. “It’s private property... I think the bottom line here tonight is it’s not township land. There’s not a whole lot we can do, but I’ll offer to help you work with the DNR. At this point that’s the best we can do. We can’t even go back and look without the property owner’s permission.”

 

Thelen suggested contacting the Clearwater Watershed District.

 

The board also suggested getting in touch with Wright County Soil & Water Conservation District and the ditch inspector.

 

 

Township Clerk Jean Just presented the statistics from cleanup day. She said there were 141 participants, down from last year’s record of 171.

 

They collected 92 appliances, 73 electronic items, 23 mattresses, 33 pieces of stuffed furniture, five dumpsters of junk and a record 183 tires.

 

Township expenditures were $5,770, and they collected $2,677 for a total cost of about $3,100.

 

Just said they saved the cost of a sixth dumpster by having Becker Furniture World collect the mattresses for recycling.

 

 

The board set a public hearing for 7 p.m. June 24 to get public input and possibly adopt an Orderly Annexation Agreement with the City of Clearwater.