Lake that flooded in '05 still is awash in controversy

Some of Woodbury's nicest neighborhoods surround Wilmes Lake, which is fringed with woods and on a snowy December day resembles a holiday greeting card.

But controversy has dogged the lake since it flooded after a heavy rainfall two years ago. Some nearby homeowners say little has been done to prevent another -- and possibly more catastrophic -- overflow of the lake. City engineers and watershed officials counter that they've invested considerable time and money to figure out how to channel water through Wilmes Lake while keeping residents dry.

And now a new wrinkle is emerging: Just north of Wilmes Lake, a developer wants to build a 327,000-square-foot business park that would include offices, shops, a bank and a big-box retailer. The proposal, although in the early stages of environmental review, worries Wilmes Lake residents who say that storm water runoff from roofs, driveways and parking lots will worsen the flooding risk on the lake.

Resident Mike Kazmerski said that such commercial development, coupled with "huge volumes" of water already flowing into Woodbury from Lake Elmo and Oakdale to the north, suggest serious consequences for Wilmes Lake.

"It's a fact of too much water coming into Woodbury and no way to get it out," he said.

Long before houses arrived on the shores of Woodbury's five major lakes, the water ebbed and flowed over farm property. Now it has to be channeled past houses and businesses as it meanders south through the watershed toward the Mississippi River. Most everyone agrees that the Wilmes Lake issue is a complicated one, involving disputes, engineering reports, conflicting ownership rights along the shoreline, and at least three government agencies.

"The problem, I think, is as old as property development," said Dan Belka, one of the Wilmes Lake neighbors most critical of Woodbury's surface water management.

In response, said City Engineer Klayton Eckles, the city developed a $1.5 million plan to help avoid more flooding of that magnitude. Grants that would help homeowners pay for floodproofing are being considered, he said, and the city considered building large storm water ponds nearby but decided the idea was too expensive and wouldn't fully solve the problem.

Managing storm water, Eckles said, can be a difficult challenge for a city. "It points to the need to be a well-planned community," he said.

But Belka, an engineer himself, said the city erred by allowing houses to be built at lower elevations near Wilmes Lake. "We're kind of living with the consequences of so much development in an inadequate standard," he said. "We have a storm water system that's not up to the task."

Eckles describes Woodbury's storm water regulations as "strict" and said the Wilmes Lake neighborhood was developed on standards written in 1979. He said the city's knowledge of surface water management is far more sophisticated today.

Belka said he knows that public officials in Woodbury cringe when they see him coming, but said he won't give up his campaign to find a solution for Wilmes Lake.

Kazmerski and Belka say the lake is too high already and more water would have nowhere to go. "If we had six inches of rain tomorrow, we'd be flooded again," Kazmerski said.

Eckles said the city wouldn't allow construction of a business park without storm water ponds built at the developer's expense to prevent runoff into Wilmes Lake.

The debate over Wilmes Lake now involves Sen. Kathy Saltzman, DFL-Woodbury, who said she will invite everyone to the table in January in hopes of solving a festering issue. "I think some of the frustration of the residents is, it's been two years," she said.

Eckles and Matt Moore, the watershed district administrator, said they've considered reducing the depth of the lake to make more room in case of a sudden heavy rain. However, other residents oppose that approach because of their concern that the lake could go dry in drought years.

No government agency can anticipate the power of the weather, Moore said: "We can't eliminate the risk, but we can reduce the damage."