On March 25, 2008, the Cass County Planning Commission approved the reclassification of the former “Arthur’s” site (a little over six acres on the lake side of Highway 371) as Water Oriented Commercial (WOC -- a classification reflecting its actual use since the 1940s).

TME LLC closed on the property on Wednesday, March 26^th, 2008.  The portion of the property on the East side (about 24 acres) retains its Non-riparian Shoreline Rural Residential classification.  TME LLC has no plans at present to develop the property east of 371.  In any case, under County ordinances, development on the East Side would not have water access to Ten Mile at TMLL.

In early April TME LLC engaged architectural services to prepare a massing study to show how the Ten Mile Lake Lodge could be positioned on the site in compliance with Cass County Land Use Ordinances governing WOC property.  In mid-May an Image Study was developed to provide a “feel” for what the new Ten Mile Lake Lodge might look like.  As of this writing, planning is still in flux.  It is expected that a TME LLC Architectural Review Committee appointed over the Memorial Day weekend will select an architect for the project this summer.

Construction Financing

In advance of construction, lodging units would sell in the range of $250K - $350K so as to generate up to $6M, the capital needed for overall construction and related costs.  Groundbreaking for the Lodge would not occur until all units were sold.

Marketing, Sales and Management

Marketing arrangements will be made through the local area realty community, a judicious advertising program and word-of-mouth promotion in the Ten Mile Community and beyond.

Project Appeal

1.   Highest and best use of the Oppegaard property (provides a viable business and prevents incursion by an RV dealership or some other developer whose goals are socially and environmentally incompatible with Ten Mile values).

2.  The portion of the property on the East side of Highway 371 remains undeveloped except for the drain fields presently in place there.

3.   Provides an amenity for the pleasure and convenience of Ten Mile property owners, their families and others in the area.

4.   Accessibility by both land and water.

5.   Overflow housing for relatives, friends and business associates.

6.   A destination for those who like to stay in touch with Ten Mile out of season but who do not have winterized cabins.

7.   An enhancement of Ten Mile environs and property values.

Concerns

1.   Will the Ten Mile Lake Lodge be a visually obtrusive structure on the lakeshore?

Stewardship of the environment, including the visual environment, is a key to the viability of the TMLL.  The project will have an architectural design that will not require significant alteration in the forested sections of the site and that will complement rather than dominate the landscape. Landscaping (plantings, berms, etc.) will shield the structure from highway 371, and the feeling of privacy and intimacy thus created will be reflected in the face that the Lodge presents to the lake.

2.  Will a restaurant/lodging development of this type have an adverse impact on Ten Mile’s water quality?

The project is driven by the desire to be good stewards of the environment, which includes the property itself as well as the lake shore and the waters of Ten Mile and the Boy River. The former Arthur’s Restaurant had a state-of-the-art septic system, with multiple drain fields on the east side of highway 371.  Current project cost projections include $75K for the refurbishment and upgrading, if necessary, of the existing system (which is purported by the former owner and by the County to be in good condition). The site of the project is well back from the lake, and the land between the site and the shore is heavily buffered with natural vegetation.  Nevertheless, landscaping and holding ponds will be included as part of a storm water protection plan approved by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency to prevent impervious surface runoff from contributing pollutants to the lake.

6.  Would lodging unit owners’ boats pose an environmental threat to Ten Mile in the form of  the introduction of exotic species (Eurasian Water Milfoil, Zebra Mussels) and/or increased water surface use by motorized watercraft (PWCs, Ski and Wakeboard Boats)?

Dock and Slip Requirements

The financial viability of the project depends in part on its ability to provide waterfront boat slips both for restaurant traffic and for some of the lodging unit owners or renters.  It is reasonable to assume that some people will not buy a lodging unit unless a permanent slip accompanies their unit.  These are folks who might expect to use their own unit off and on throughout the summer, and who would expect to moor their boat at the property for the season.  Boats belonging to this type of owner would, though moored at the dock, probably not be in use most of the time.

Others will be renters, fisher men and women or recreational boaters who may want to have a boat at the lodge for a weekend or a week or two, but who would not require a permanent mooring for the season.

It is expected that many if not most buyers will be people who are already a part of the Ten Mile community. Ten Mile property owners who don’t have room to accommodate their entire families for a weekend or a week or two might own or rent a Lodge unit for their visiting children or parents who would not expect to have boats of their own but would use their family’s boats and waterfront elsewhere, and then retreat to their own private lodging in the evenings. This kind of use would be likely to generate occasional “commuting” traffic, but not require permanent mooring space or generate continuous traffic on the bay.

Average occupancy of the lodging units will most likely be high during “high” season – mid-June through Labor Day – but it will probably not be 100% at any given time.

On the basis of these assumptions, for discussion purposes, we assume that we will need fewer slips than lodging units, or six to eight slips to accommodate owners and renters.

These six to eight, together with the slips or tie-ups for restaurant traffic (which, presumably, would occasionally be available for temporary mooring of the boats of lodging unit visitors) might require twelve to fourteen places (slips and tie-ups) in all.

TME LLC has commissioned a certified topographical survey showing that the property has 45 feet of shoreline.  TME LLC has consulted and will continue to consult with the Ten Mile Community, the County, the DNR and with Northwoods Dock and Service of Hackensack on the design of a docking installation that would provide sufficient space for boats while complying with pertinent ordinances and rules and maintaining the lowest possible dock profile at the water’s edge.

Social and Environmental Impact on the Bay and the Lake

The proposed restaurant and lodge would surely bring some boats and boaters to Ten Mile.  So would some other water-oriented development, over which Ten Milers would presumably have little or no control.  To mitigate the adverse effect of boat traffic originating at TMLL, TME LLC will implement certain policies, such as:

Undesirable boat traffic:

§         Prohibit mooring of PWCs and wake boarding boats and their use from the TMLL dock.

Invasive species:

§         Provide advice and counsel to owners and renters from an environmentally sensitive lodge management.

§         Provide literature in the Lodge lobby and in owners’ units; tasteful, appropriate signage; boat inspections and a boat-washing station to provide a defense against boaters’ introduction of unwanted flora and fauna.

(This amount of overall control is more than would be likely to be implemented by any other commercial interest -- such as an RV Center developer -- that might own and/or develop the property, and is more than is currently exercised at Ten Mile’s DNR Public Access.)

Other Considerations

§         The closing of the fuel pump operation at Happiness Resort at the end of the 2007 season will probably reduce high-speed boat traffic Long’s Bay.

§         It is possible that a price approaching $4.50 per gallon for high test gasoline will have the effect of lessening motorized traffic both on the bay and on the main lake in coming years.

§         Judging by observation of the Ten Mile shoreline during the summer, most people’s boats stay in their lifts most of the time, and, with exception of the occasional PWCs and wake boarders that buzz the shore such boat traffic as there is is relatively benign.  We assume that, apart from restaurant boat traffic, though there will be up to six boats moored at the lodge at any given time, not many of them will be in use simultaneously, and that if an observable pattern holds, their use won’t create a significant added threat to the environment or tranquility of the bay or the main lake.

§         At its northern point the TMLL shoreline abuts 950 feet of undeveloped shoreline owned by the State of Minnesota and managed by DNR Trail and Waterways.  If there were as many as eight owner/renter slips at the dock, and they were all full at any one time, the density of boats on the 1,000 feet of shoreline comprised by the TMLL and DNR properties would probably be less than the density of boats on other stretches of shoreline both on Long’s Bay and on the main lake, where on any given 100-Ft. lot there are as many as two to four boats per lot. 

§         TME LLC waterfront and docking plans will be a part of the overall plan for the TMLL, will be planned with TMLL neighbors’ and Ten Milers’ environmental values in mind, will comply with pertinent ordinances and will be subject to appropriate County and DNR approvals and permits.

 3.   What if the number of condo units sold provided insufficient capital to construct the facility?

§         The LLC could develop another business plan, or

§         The LLC could sell the land to the Ten Mile Lake Association, providing the Association were a willing purchaser, in which case the initial investors would recover some or all of their initial investment, or

§         The LLC could donate the land to the TMLA or to the Leech Lake Area Watershed Foundation (LLAWF) and take a tax write-off in an amount to be determined by a current property appraisal, or

§         The LLC could offer the property for sale on the open market.

§         Should the Ten Mile Lake Lodge project fail, the intention of the LLC would, in any case, be to prevent the property from being developed in a way contrary to the best interests of Ten Mile and its environs.