Lake Elmo horse trail decision has County Board skittish

A dispute over how horse owners enter Lake Elmo Park Reserve has Washington County scrambling to look at a broader policy governing neighborhoods that border county parks.

Commissioner Bill Pulkrabek, who represents Lake Elmo, asked at the County Board meeting last week why it was taking so long to resolve a request by residents who want trail access at 15th Street North in Lake Elmo. Horse owners who live in the neighborhood, he said, have to ride their horses along busy 10th Street North to get to the main entrance.

But Commissioner Gary Kriesel said he was angry that somebody cut a wire fence that county employees installed on the park's boundary and used it as an entrance. Someone also stole a camera mounted there.

"Why would you reward bad behavior?" he asked his colleagues.

Pulkrabek said the lack of a designated trail head at the 15th Street location was "an enormous inconvenience" for residents. "I see this as common sense, what's the big deal?"

Pam Eichenberger, a horse owner, said she once had a horse that bolted onto 10th Street North because of traffic noise.

"If that happened today, people would die," Eichenberger said, alluding to busy traffic on the east-west highway through Lake Elmo and Oakdale. "We just want to enjoy that beautiful park that's there for all of us."

Another commissioner, Dennis Hegberg, said the same type of issue arises at Big Marine Park Reserve in the north end of the county when residents living at the park's boundary want dock access on the lake.

The county needs a bigger discussion, he said, over how to serve people who live next door to parks while everybody else is required to use designated entrances.

"Let's do it right, not just having a trail established by cutting a hole in the fence," said County Engineer Don Theisen, whose portfolio includes parks.

Commissioner Lisa Weik said the Lake Elmo dispute begged a larger question of who pays to use parks, and whether people who want neighborhood access have paid the required fees.

Kriesel said that intimidation was no way to make county policy.

Pulkrabek asked Theisen if he could recall a single incident of someone being killed or hurt at the 15th Street location in recent years. Theisen said no.

And Theisen said he didn't know how many people inside county parks got there without paying.

"We don't want to be out in the parks asking people, 'How did you get in here?' " he said. "The good news is, people are using our parks."

In the end, commissioners voted 3-1 to study the larger issue before making a decision about 15th Street.

Kriesel, Hegberg and Weik voted yes. Pulkrabek voted no. The fifth commissioner, Myra Peterson, was absent.