Waseca County yields ditch authority

Final public hearings for four county ditch authority items took place during the November 15 county board meeting. The first was for partial abandonment and transfer of County Ditch 15-1, part of which is located within Waseca City limits.. The remaining three hearings were for redetermination of benefits for County Ditches 15-1, 16, and 28. No members of the public submitted comments or written materials during the public comment periods for any of the four hearings.

In the first hearing, Kale Van Bruggen of Rinke Noonan Attorneys at Law, the attorney for the Drainage Authority, began by explaining the petition from the city which prompted the hearing. County Ditch 15-1 is a tile system with no open ditch. It was established in 1920 and includes both rural and city land with an outlet into Clear Lake. The City of Waseca petitioned the county to transfer the portion of CD 15-1 which lies in residential areas of the city to its control, and to officially abandon a portion of the system which has been non-functional since 2017. The petition made the claim that the City of Waseca iss better situated to manage the tile system within city residential areas. Officially abandoning the portion which has been capped and had no outlet would allow landowners or developers to work on that land without needing to involve the county.  After opportunity for public comment, Van Bruggen explained the options to the board. A draft of the Findings and Order had been prepared prior to the hearing which, with no public comments to consider, the Board of Commissioners could now vote to approve or reject. The board voted unanimously in favor of the Findings and Order, officially completing the partial abandonment and transfer of CD 15-1. Following the vote, the county retains responsibility for 1,730 feet of tile south of Clear Lake.

The three hearings for redetermination of benefits followed the same procedure. Van Bruggen explained that Statute 103e.351 allows the Board of Commissioners to update the tax roll for the county’s ditch systems by engaging the services of accredited drainage ditch viewers to determine the financial benefits to landowners. The process of redetermining benefits for CD 15-1, CD 16, and CD 28 began in July of 2017, but faced some delays. Following Zabel’s evidence of notice, one of the viewers involved in the redetermination presented their findings. A public comment period was opened, followed by a review of the options available to the Board of Commissioners and a vote. During the hearing for CD 15-1, viewer Mark Behrends explained that the process for determining the financial benefits of a ditch system for landowners examines five factors: land acreage within the watershed, soil type, location of the land relative to the ditch system, whether there is tile on the property, and the efficiency of the system. These elements determine the financial benefit of the system to each impacted landowner and their percentage of the total benefit for the tax roll. During this process, the viewers communicate regularly with impacted landowners. At the end of each hearing the Board of Commissioners had three options. They could order investigation related evidence from the public, if any was given, reject the viewers’ report and require a new one, or accept the viewers’ report to update the tax roll.

In anticipation of the partial transfer and abandonment of CD-15, the viewers had prepared a report which reflected the county’s updated area of responsibility which showed that over a period of 25 years CD 15-1 would provide benefits of $604,317 to landowners across 955.17 acres. For the redetermination of CD 16, viewer Kendall Lengseth gave the report. CD 16 was established in 1921 and consists of 22,930 feet of tile with no open ditches outletted into the Little Cobb River. The viewers determined the system gave landowners a financial benefit of $839,997 over a period of twenty-five years and across 1,075.02 acres. Behrends gave the report for CD 28, which consists of 18,570 feet of tile and no open ditch outletted into the Le Sueur River. The viewers determined the system provides landowners a benefit of $747,918 over a period of twenty-five years and across 996.64 acres. The board unanimously approved all three reports for the tax roll.