Photo by Deb Gau Lyon County Planning and Zoning Administrator John Biren brought a proposed CUP to expand Twin Lakes Park to county commissioners

MARSHALL — Plans to build additional campsites, bathroom facilities and other expansions at Twin Lakes Park drew a lot of public comments, Lyon County officials said. However, a lot of the neighboring landowners’ concerns about the proposal didn’t have as much to do with the park, as with rising water levels on East Twin Lake.

Several comments the Lyon County Planning Commission received at a public hearing last week said the county should hold off on park construction until the water levels could be stabilized.

While Lyon County commissioners did approve a conditional use permit to expand the park, they also spent some time Tuesday talking about the future of the lake.

“It’s almost two separate issues,” said Commissioner Gary Crowley.

The conditional use permit would allow the county to build additional campsites, a picnic shelter, shower and bathroom facilities, and other amenities on land that’s currently zoned for agriculture. The land that will be developed is on the south end of Twin Lakes Park, in southwest Lyon County. Stipulations on the permit say the county must meet conditions like addressing on-street parking and pedestrian safety, and creating boundaries like shrub plantings between the park and neighboring farmland.

At last week’s hearing, the county Planning Commission said a lot of discussion was recorded.

“A lot of tough questions were asked,” Biren said.

Planning commissioners also received four written comments raising concerns about additional traffic congestion on County Road 51 if the park is expanded, as well as concerns about the lake level. Neighboring property owners said they thought an outlet should be built for East Twin Lake before the county looks at expanding the campgrounds.

Biren and county commissioners had discussed problems with high water levels on East Twin Lake last summer. Southwest Minnesota received extreme rains in the summer of 2018, which raised water levels on area lakes. But East Twin Lake has also been growing for unknown reasons. Water has covered a public boat landing, and neighboring landowners say erosion around the lake has been a problem for years.

“The park isn’t being utilized 100 percent,” Biren said, and part of the problem is flooding at areas like the boat landing.

Last August, Biren said a short-term option for East Twin Lake would be to pump some water out, but a long-term way to manage water levels would be to create an outlet. The lake currently doesn’t have any way for excess water to drain.

County commissioners voted to approve the conditional use permit. However, Biren said the discussion about how to address water levels on East Twin Lake is still going on. The Lyon County Soil and Water Conservation District held a meeting with neighboring landowners and a consulting engineer to talk about a possible outlet for the lake. Biren said Tuesday that another meeting will be set in the future, once the engineer has a finished plan.