County submits comments on buffer strip map

McLeod County barely got its comments in on time on the proposed buffer strip map, Commissioner Paul Wright reported at Tuesday’s county board meeting.
Wright said the request for comments was channeled through the Soil and Water Conservation District office, so the county received late notification.
Wright also said that several errors were found on the proposed McLeod County map.
“We found some waterways that were wrong,” said Wright. “Belle Lake was not on the map at all.” Belle Lake lies on the border of McLeod and Wright counties.
Wright said he wrote a letter to legislators indicating disappointment with the process and timeline.
If other counties also found errors, the state will have a tough time meeting its July deadline of having all the buffer strip areas identified and mapped. “It’s a little unrealistic,” Wright said.
He added that his letter to the legislators included a suggestion to extend deadlines.
Commissioner Doug Krueger said he also had been in contact with state officials about the buffer strip law and the deadlines and “found very little sympathy” for the plight local officials are in.

For more, see the May 18 print edition of The Chronicle.