The case of a woman charged with illegally renting her dock and cottage on Lake Minnetonka's Crystal Bay will not go to trial.
The city of Orono on Thursday agreed to suspend prosecution against Nancy Edwards, 75, who for years has relied on income from renting out her boat dock along with the cottage where she lives. Edwards now has six months to pay $500 in fees and must remain in compliance for the year.
Thursday's agreement came more than a year after Edwards was first cited for violating a 2012 ordinance and then charged with renting her home without a license.
A few weeks ago, her attorney, Erick Kaardal, helped her find loopholes in the city ordinance. She put the title of the boat at her dock in both her name and her tenant's name and signed a lease for the whole property, meaning she didn't need a rental license, Kaardal said.
"The prosecutor, reasonably, when seeing she was in compliance, suspended the prosecution for historically violating the law," Kaardal said. "It's a victory for Nancy because she gets to stay in her house."
Edwards said Thursday that she still hopes to someday change the ordinance that makes it illegal for her to have a boat at her dock that isn't hers.
But for now, she said, she's grateful the case is resolved.
"I'm exhausted," she said. "There's been so many times I thought this would be over, and now it finally is."
