TRANSPARENCY

The City of Eagle Lake and Bradford Development have repeatedly insisted that they have been and are being entirely transparent throughout this process.

• While living 1/2 mile north of this proposed project, we received no word of the June 12, 2019 open house for this proposed development.  I found out through a friend who lives in Eagle Lake.

• Since September 2019, I have received over 70 emails from the City of Eagle Lake regarding local events, grass clippings, Tator Days, snow removal, etc. and only THREE of them mentioned anything with this proposed project.  3 out of 70+. The developer held ONE open house at city hall on June 12, 2019. The city has done what has been legally required to notify residents/the public, but if this is such a huge benefit to the community, where's the hype and why do many residents know so little (if at all) about it?   

• In February 2020, a local real estate agent announced a spring groundbreaking for this project on the Eagle Lake Community Facebook group page.  When I informed this individual that the EAW hadn't even been released to the public yet and asked where they received this info, they replied that it had been "approved" at a meeting that morning.  They then deleted the post and privately messaged me to apologize for creating any problems.  I then asked about the meeting where this supposed "approval" was given and they never replied.

• For 7 months residents asked about conflict of interest, being as there are 2 real estate agents (Dennis Terrell and John Ries) on the council.  While Councilman Ries claims he is not receiving any compensation (July 1, 2019 meeting), Councilman Terrell made no such statement.  After speaking at the January 6, 2020 city council meeting, I received a message from Councilman Terrell:
  Hi Erin, I just want to tell you about the meeting in I think Lime Township. This was the only meeting that I attended. Here are some of the questions that the Township asked. 1. Can you build just the garages at the track and build the Condos in town? 2. They asked if the place could be locked every night at 5:00 and nobody allowed in afterwards. 3. Then the question was asked , what do you think if we issue you a 5 year permit to try it. It was at that point I asked the developer how many acres he was looking for. After that I indeed made the calls to put the [landowner] and Developer together. A meeting was set up in my office between the two parties. I introduced them to one another and at that time I told both sides I was there for the city and I could not take any commission for anything as that would be a conflict of interest. You are more than welcome to call -------- in regards to this . The same was said to ------- as well. As far as the track goes they are doing everything that the EAW requires (as far as I know. Bolten and Menk spent a number of days at the Brainard location for a sound study. For extra measures I have seen a plan with a berm around most of it. I do know or have been told that sound travels out and not up and over. The City is not paying for water and sewer to the project but we may pay for over sizing as that would make sense but really has not been discussed at a council meeting. I sure cannot argue that Highway 14 is not safe. I am not in favor of those J turns. They should have longer turning lanes as well as acceleration lanes. That is a State issue. But I do believe the user of the track are probably better drivers then a lot of the people that have had accidents at the intersection. I can assure you when Brad does this it will look very well as that is how he does things. I also should mention that it appears the track is going to be 7 or 800 feet from the bank of the lake. That is only a guess but that is what it looks like to me. I hope this helps explain a few things. If you have any questions feel free to message me.    Denny   
  I removed other names as they are not named in the appeal and I did not reply to this message.