Sherburne County officials are in discussions about a property that could become a future county park.

At a workshop Tuesday, Public Works Director Andrew Witter gave a presentation to the county commissioners about land that has become available to purchase for a park.

The land is located in Palmer Twp. on Elk Lake, just south of Co. Rd. 16. It is being offered by the family of Howard Weis.

“A long-standing citizen of the area unfortunately passed about a year ago and his family is interested in selling the property,” said Witter. “One of the things he had stated throughout the years is the fact that he wanted his property to become either a state or county park.”

Witter said the family approached the county and he had an opportunity to get a personal tour by the son-in-law.

The property consists of four parcels totalling 430.46 acres, with wooded areas, 172 acres of tillable farmland and 147 acres of wetland. 

One thing that sets the land apart from other county parks is the 4,400 feet of shoreline on Elk Lake.

The property also has two houses and two cabins.

Witter said there have been conversations that author Sinclair Lewis spent time writing in one of the cabins.

“But that has not been verified,” said Witter. “That’s just through conversation with the property owner.”

He said there is also potential historic value concerning Native American history.

The county had a third-party appraisal done on the property. The price tag is $2.25 million.

Commissioner Tim Dolan said the question is whether the property would be of value to the community.

“Obviously, we have to be fiscally prudent,” he said. “But money aside, this would be a community asset that would make sense for generations.”

The property is also bigger than all the four current county parks combined.

Parks Coordinator Gina Hugo said  the property has amenities the other county parks don’t have.

“We don’t have a public beach,” she said. “We don’t have camping. It would fill some gaps in our park system.”

She also said it could also potentially become a regional park. 

“There’s no other regional park in this area, and achieving regional designation is going to open up a whole new world of funding,” she said.

That could mean state Legacy funding for things like comfort stations and campgrounds.

Members of the board agreed they were interested in continuing investigating the opportunity.

Witter said the next steps were discussing the appraisal with the property owner, moving forward with an archaeological investigation, and talking with the Minnesota Land Trust about funding opportunities.