The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is blocking Stearns County's attempt to settle a wetland violation case.
The DNR is arguing that the proposed settlement doesn't comply with federal wetlands law.
The Stearns County board voted July 12 to settle the6-year-old case with Dan Eller, a St. Cloud attorney, and members of his family.
A DNR conservation officer issued the initial order to the Ellers to restore the wetland. The DNR could either sign off on the settlement or intervene, said Craig Engwall, special assistant to the commissioner.
The DNR, represented by the state attorney general's office, notified the county this week of its intent tointervene.
"We just didn't feel the settlement met the requirements of (the Wetland Conservation Act)," Engwall said.
According to the DNR's restoration order, Eller in 1999 illegally filled 27,725 square feet of wetland on his Collegeville Township property without obtaining the necessary permits. The changes were made to build a driveway.
Under the proposed settlement, Eller would have to donate 10 acres to a Scientific and Natural Area.
The settlement did not include restoring the filled wetland or mitigating the loss by creating a new wetland, which the federal law requires, Engwall said.
The property Eller was willing to donate adjoins a Scientific and Natural Area and is worth about $25,000, said Marcus Miller, assistant Stearns County attorney, who helped negotiate the settlement.
"It was land that at least has some value," he said. "From the county's perspective, this was an acceptable settlement."
Eller said the area filled for the driveway wasn't a true wetland because it was created by a beaver dam.
He said the settlement "was a fair resolution of something that's been around for a long, long time."
The DNR will take over litigation of the case,although the county attorney's office will remaininvolved, Miller said.St. Cloud Times
