It looks like some progress might be made on the negotiations on the dam at the outlet of Albert Lea Lake.

Landowner Greg Jensen and Freeborn County commissioners have been talking about the future of the 86-year-old Juglans dam. They have formed a alternate plan. Juglans is an old name for the swampy area near the outlet of the lake.

“I think we now have a really good solution for everyone,” Jensen said.

The commissioners had been slated to vote on a proposed bridge-dam project on Tuesday. That vote could still take place Tuesday or it might not. The commissioners might vote on an entirely different plan — the one being worked out between Jensen and the commissioners.

However, it all depends on the Shell Rock River Watershed District. It’s the one with the purse strings. The district board could meet Monday — or not. It is a guessing game.

That alternate plan could call for separating the bridge proposal from the dam proposal, and it could call for a fixed-crest dam. It also might work out some ownership claims. Everything remains to be seen.

“Come to Tuesday’s meeting for a response from all parties involved,” said Commissioner Dan Belshan in a facsimile to the Tribune. “I’ve been paying close attention to their wants and needs as well as the legal ramifications.”

Jensen said he has established a good working relationship with Belshan and commissioners Glen Mathiason, Jim Nelson and Christopher Shoff.

“Through their due diligence and careful thought is how this deal has gotten done,” Jensen said.

Mathiason confirmed that commissioners and Jensen have sent the alternate plan to the watershed district board. What the county votes on Tuesday would depend on how the district board votes, if it votes.

“It’s in the watershed district’s court on the dam to send something up to the county,” Mathiason said.

The original proposal called for a variable-crest dam to be built underneath a new Freeborn County Road 19 bridge over the Shell Rock River. The $2.4 million work was to be done simultaneously. The commissioners in January 2007 unanimously approved drawing up plans for a joint bridge-dam project. Barr Engineering Co. of Minneapolis drafted the plans at a cost of $127,186 to the county and watershed district. The Shell Rock River Watershed District on a 4-3 vote in August approved moving forward with the plans.

District board members Roger Peterson, Clayton Petersen, Al Bakken and Art Ludtke voted for it. Gary Pestorious, Brett Richards and Bruce Haugsdal voted against it.

But now the money spent on those plans could be for naught as the commissioners and the landowner seek a new direction. That causes concern for some who liked the plan in place. However, with the details of the alternative plan yet to be made public, many of the supporters of the old plan might be happy to have a plan in place at all.

Another factor in the politicking is time. The 104-foot timber bridge is old.

“We really have to get going on that bridge. It’s our main concern,” Mathiason said.

The creosote has worn off timber pilings supporting the County 19 bridge at the lake’s outlet and the wood is beginning to rot, said Freeborn County Engineer Sue Miller. She hopes to have the bridge replaced, whether it is part of the dam project or not.

“By next spring if we don’t have a plan to replace the bridge, I will recommend to the board we close the bridge,” Miller said.

She said either way next spring the bridge probably will be restricted to 5 tons. Presently, two trucks are not allowed to be on the bridge at the same time, and there is a weight restriction sign of 24 tons and 40 tons, depending on the number of axles.

Miller also needs to get the plans to the Minnesota Department of Transportation so she can be in line for state funding assistance. She would prefer the bridge to be part of the dam project because the plans are paid for and ready to go.

“It’s important for the public to know that there has been a lot of time and interest in this plan,” Miller said.

The dam was to be the Shell Rock River Watershed District’s first high-visibility project in the wake of a half-cent sales tax that voters approved in November 2005 to help clean local waters.

In 1997, the east part of the dam washed out. A Department of Natural Resources inspector said there was no immediate danger and local citizens plugged the fallout with rocks and pieces of concrete. Also that year, the county created the Albert Lea Lake Water Management Plan, and it called for seeking funding to replace the Jugland dam.

In 2003, Freeborn County petitioned the watershed district to replace the dam and turned over the project to the district. That same year the watershed district wrote a water management plan, and it called for the replacement of the dam with a structure that can control the lake water levels — a variable-crest dam.

In 2005, the watershed district received a $250,000 dam safety grant from the DNR. In July 2006, the district began the design phase. An early plan for a dam was rejected because it didn’t have a variable-crest dam.

Watershed District Administrator Brett Behnke said a drawdown of water allows for the killing of invasive fish and for the repair of the ecology. He said drawdowns only would happen in winters once every couple of decades or so.

Some landowners oppose variable-crest dams because of property disputes over shorelines and because the appearance of a grassy shallow lake during the drawdown. Jensen also favors a fixed-crest dam.

Barr Engineering was hired in December 2006. The county commissioners gave their nod the next month.

So what happened?

Well, it all depends on who you talk to and who you believe.

Lloyd Palmer had been the landowner, and the family had claimed ownership of the dam. The county also claimed ownership over the dam. The Palmers claimed ownership of the river, too.

Matt Benda, lawyer for the Shell Rock River Watershed District, said the state owns the river, which appears on the state Department of Natural Resources’ inventory, as approved by the state Legislature.

“This issue was resolved clearly by the Legislature. It’s a public waterway up the ordinary high-water level,” he said.

What’s that? It is “commonly that point where the natural vegetation changes from predominantly aquatic to predominantly terrestrial,” according to the DNR.

Palmer, in a letter to the editor printed in the Tribune on Sept. 23, said the courts ruled in 1961 that the Shell Rock River is private.

Benda said he could not find such a case in the legal records and said Palmer might have confused it with a different case concerning the Fountain Lake dam. Benda said if that is the case, then property below that dam is irrelevant to any Fountain Lake ruling. The city of Albert Lea owns the Fountain Lake dam.

Even so, the Palmers had been talking with Benke about selling an easement to the watershed district for a parking lot for fishermen and for land beside the dam. The Gregory D. Jensen Retirement Plan & Trust in May bought Palmer’s land for $151,720, according to records at the Freeborn County Recorder’s Office. Palmer in the letter also said Behnke failed return phone calls, so he spoke with Jensen.

Benke said he had been in communication with Palmer, but then Palmer became ill with cancer. Behnke said he then spoke mainly with Palmer’s wife but tried to maintain a respectful distance because of the illness. Behnke said an agreement was being drawn up and everything seemed fine, but the next thing he knew, the land was sold.

OK, but who owns the dam?

Benda pulled out a legal agreement from October 1958. In it, the county transferred ownership of the old road crossing the dam to C.D. Palmer. Here is the part Benda points to:

“Reserving, however, to the county of Freeborn, its agents and invitees, the right of access to, egress and ingress, across said premises to and from the Jugland dam situated on or near the above described premises.”

“If a judge reads this,” Benda said, “it’s clear the only reason the county kept ingress and egress was to get to their dam.”

The politics go on. Did Jensen know about the plans when he bought the land? Watershed board member Clayton Petersen says yes. Jensen says of course not.

With the sale of the land to Jensen and concerns about blocking the plans, there also had been discussion of using eminent domain, too.

But all this back story and everything could be changed and tossed out the window, depending on what the alternative plan looks like.

“The actions we take today ultimately will impact future generations,” Petersen said.

Jensen said he thinks he and the commissioners have a middle-ground solution that people will like.

“They’re going to like what we’ve put together. It’s for the better,” he said.