American Lake Management District #1
American Lake Management District # 1 (ALLMD) was formed in 2019 by the shoreline owners, the City of Lakewood, Camp Murray, and JBLM which controls the property where the Veteran's Hospital is located. The stated purpose of the ALLMD is to control noxious, invasive aquatic weeds, specifically Eurasian watermilfoil. Aqua Technex LLC applies ProcellaCOR herbicide. It is approved by the federal EPA as well as the WA Dept. of Ecology for use to specifically target milfoil. The ALLMD is structured as an advisory board comprised of members from the City, Camp Murray, JBLM and 3 private shoreline owners. The Advisory board provides non-binding recommendations and expertise and focuses on high-level guidance or community input.
Function of a Lake Management Board
The ALLMD was created under the Washington Code RCW 36.16. This law allows citizens or municipalities to assess funds in order to protect their lakes when the state is unable to do so. The ALMD currently assesses shoreline owners at $.66 per lineal foot of shoreline. The City collects the funds, then pays for the annual milfoil treatments and subsequent surveys.
The milfoil treatment started with 265 acres of Eurasian watermilfoil growing in shallow areas and around docks. Underwater meadows of this invasive aquatic weed threatened fish habitat and were dangerous for swimmers. Today the amount of weeds treated annually is about 50 acres. Unfortunately, it will probably be impossible for this invasive weed to be eradicated.
After several public meetings, the shoreline owners voted to choose ProcellaCOR as this was the least expensive and most environmentally friendly product at the time. ProcellaCOR has a good track record and is very effective.
The ALLMD can be renewed every 10 years according to the vote of the shoreline owners. The current district will sunset in 2028.
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If property owners wish to have ALLMD address issues other than treatment of milfoil, at least 20% of the shoreline owners must request the District adopt a new project. They need to present a plan along with cost estimates to implement the plan. The District will consider adopting the project and will conduct public hearings and a vote before a new project will be adopted.
Petition to City to Restore American Lake
A petition signed by over 150 shoreline residents was presented to Lakewood City Council. This is their Explanation of the petition.
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What does this petition do?
While the extremely low waterlevels of the last few summers have been addressed, this petition seeks to address the other problems with American Lake (toxic cyanobacteria, filamentous green algae, and unwanted excessive noxious vegetation)
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The petetion directs the City of Lakewood (City) and the American Lake Management District No. 1 (ALMD) to work with the lake shoreline property owners to develop and implement a Comprehensive Manaemnet Plan to address these issues. (Note: ALMD currently only focuses on Milfoil control)
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Are these problems unique to American Lake?
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No, to varying degrees these problems are typical for most lakes that have developed shorelines, Many lakes in Western WA have Lake Management Kistricts and pay assessents to treat these problems. Lake Steilacoom and Spanaway Lake are examples.
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Does this petition require the City to increase assessments to lake shore property owners?
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No, it does not. Ultimately and increase in lake shore property assessments may be necessary, but that comes later and requires a vote of the shoreline owners.
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Will the City, State, and Military pay their fair share of any increasein assessments?
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The City has no authority to assess the State or Military for funding. When the time comes to collect assessments the State and Military will hopefully pay their fair share.
Monthly work-study/listening meeting
The Washington Open Public Meetings Act requires that the public be allowed to observe all meetings held by public entities. They don't always have the opportunity to comment at the meetings however. The agendas must be posted ahead of time. Minutes from meetings will not be published until they have been approved by the Boards that are holding the meetings.
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A quorum of Board members may not meet together or respond to other meetings on e-mail threads. These communications of a quorum can be considered public meetings which the public has rights to hear. Demands for e-mail review that may have been in violation are very time consuming for public employees. Recently there have been multiple lawsuits against municipalities and other public entities over the Open Public Meetings Act procedures. Even though fines for violations are not very high, the court costs are astronomical. The court costs of litigating these accusations through the judicial system is overwhelming. Currently the State of Washington has accrued over $14M in legal costs.
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The City of Lakewood strictly follows the rules concerning Open Public Meetings. While the procedures may be cumbersome and time consuming, eventually the purposes of the public meetings can be met. An understanding of the current concern over the Open Public Meetings Act threats is unfortunately necessary and requires patience on behalf of lakeshore owners.
July 9th- Work Session
This work session is intended for the Board to develop a framework and timeline for current and future work plans and to discuss what steps need to be taken to prepare for the LMD sunset. This meeting will be open to the public to watch on Zoom, but no public comment session will be available. The purpose of this meeting is for the Board to have opportunity to ask questions of the City legal department, and determine what other information they may need in order to move forward. They will be addressing how to increase the focus of the LMD and how best to structure it. It is not the purpose of this work session to take action yet.
Subsequent "Listening" Session schedule TBA
The subsequent meeting will tentatively will be a listening session. They might be better described as "Addressing Public Concerns" meetings. If you have any ideas or issues you would like the Board to consider at those meetings, they need to be submitted in advance via e-mail. The City will compile a complete packet for the LMD Board to review prior to the meeting. Then at the Listening Meeting, the Board will address those issues. This gives the public a way to share their thoughts on what they want to see in the workplan in a way that is organized and conducive to Board response. By July 21, all public submissions will need to be sent to Katie Foster, who facilitates preparations for the meetings. kfoster@cityoflakewood.us.
Notifications will also be posted on the Lakewood City website so people have ample time to put something together.
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Contact
Send questions about the LMD to the Lakewood city engineer, Weston Ott at W.Ott@cityoflakewood.us