Two big requests for the Albert Lea area were included in the House bonding bill released Thursday.

The bill calls for $7.5 million to dredge Fountain Lake and $500,000 for the extension of the Blazing Star Trail from Myre-Big Island State Park to Hayward.

Local officials have lobbied for the money for both projects for several years.

“We are super pleased with the turnout of the House bill having our project included,” said Brett Behnke, administrator of the Shell Rock River Watershed District. “We know this is only a baby step, and we have a long way to go with the Senate and the governor.”

The announcement came a week after more than two dozen Albert Lea leaders traveled up to the Capitol to meet with legislators about the project. They were representatives from multiple organizations, including the city, Freeborn County, the Shell Rock River Watershed District, the Albert Lea-Freeborn County Chamber of Commerce and the Albert Lea Convention and Visitors Bureau, among others.

Lakes Foundation President Laura Lunde said legislators were receptive to the information presented.

“I think the thing that made a wave at the capital was the critical high-level support from the community,” Lunde said. “That’s going to be so crucial going forward in the next few weeks.”

The Senate has not yet announced when its bonding bill will be released, and Gov. Mark Dayton’s recommended projects were presented in January. His proposed $986 million in state-backed projects did not include Albert Lea’s dredging project, but Dayton’s staff last week told local officials the governor is looking for a project in southern Minnesota to include in the bill.

Behnke said though the bonding bill is far from completed, this is the best position the project has been in at this stage during the years the Watershed District has requested funds.

He thanked the legislators and the community for the support it has shown.

“We still have a long way to the finish line,” Lunde said. “And there’s a lot of work still to be done.”

The dredging project has been gaining momentum since the Shell Rock River Watershed District in fall 2012 purchased a 2010 IMS 7012 HP 51-foot Versi hydraulic dredge for about $340,000, along with the pipes, pumping and other equipment necessary to pump the dredge material away from the lake for $435,000. District leaders have also contracted out for preliminary engineering.

Officials have stated the entire project is estimated at $15 million, with the other half of the cost coming from a local-option sales tax.

Watershed and city officials have said previously the project is necessary because the lake has become filled with sediment — as much as 5 to 8 feet in some areas. The accumulation has resulted in water quality impairment and large algae blooms.

If awarded, the bonding would go toward engineering, design, permitting and land acquisition for the sediment removal and cleanup of the lake.

Local leaders have lobbied the dredging project would increase economic development for Albert Lea and the state through increased tourism, spending and strengthening the economy of southern Minnesota.

 

Blazing Star Trail

The $500,000 for Blazing Star Trail would go specifically for covering the last mile and a half stretch of an extension from Myre-Big Island State Park to Hayward, particularly from the edge of Albert Lea Lake to Hayward.

The Blazing Star Trail presently begins at Frank Hall Park in Albert Lea and goes to a point on the northeast side of Myre-Big Island State Park, about a three quarters of a mile from the western shore of Albert Lea Lake’s northern bay.

The extension would be 2.9 miles and would include a bridge over Albert Lea Lake. Once it is completed, it would be turned over to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources for maintenance.

It is the hope the trail could someday connect with the Shooting Star Trail in Austin.

Craig Hoium, with the Blazing Star Trail joint powers board, said seeing that the trail made it into the House proposal was “good news for all the trail supporters.”

Though the trail funding was also not included in the governor’s proposal, he said the trail is a designated legislative trail so he doubts the Legislature will want to leave the trail half developed for long.