A civil action lawsuit was filed last week in Pope County District Court against Pope County that seeks to stop or change the county’s plans to reconstruct South Lakeshore Drive (County Road 17) under MERA (Minnesota Statute Ch.116B).

The complaint, filed on Sept. 14, named the plaintiffs in the case as the State of Minnesota by  Peters Sunset Beach, Inc.,  Sunset Beach Cottage Owners Association, Inc. and Pezhekee, Inc.  The lawsuit states that the project design plans to reconstruct South Lakeshore Drive would “result in pollution, impairment or destruction of natural resources in violation of the Minnesota Environmental Rights Act.”

According to the complaint the Pope County Board of Commissioners first approved a project in May of this year that called for the reconstruction of a portion of South Lakeshore Drive from Canal Cove to Pezhekee Road.  Then, at a later meeting in June,  approved a MnDOT variance for the project that removed some “safety measures included in the first plan and did not include environmental analysis of impact on the natural resources, including on Lake Minnewaska and adjacent lands or any “project alternatives and the reduced impact of a smaller project,” the complaint states.   The project also included plans for  clearing trees and vegetation with the reconstruction of the roadway, it was stated in the complaint.

The Pope County Board last Tuesday closed the portion of the meeting in which the lawsuit was discussed, so no further information from the county was made available.  No court date has yet been set.