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Bill seeks permanent leases or sales for historic boathouses at Soudan Underground Mine State Park
Summary
Representative Scraba introduced HF 15‑70 to change lease/sale options for historic boathouses at Soudan Underground Mine (Lake Vermilion). DNR described long-standing lease terms, historic protections, and a prior compromise that limited transfers to family descendants; committee laid the bill over for possible inclusion.
Representative Scraba introduced House File 15‑70 concerning a cluster of historic boathouses at Soudan Underground Mine State Park on Lake Vermilion and said the proposal would allow leases to be continued or parcels sold so structures can be preserved.
"What we're trying to do is we want these to become permanent," Representative Scraba said, explaining owners seek a path to keep boathouses maintained rather than let them deteriorate.
Phil Leversedge, deputy director of the Parks and Trails Division at the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, testified that the DNR has concerns and described prior compromise legislation. He said US Steel donated the land in 1965 and that original lease terms were continued through 2015; the compromise allowed lifetime leases that could be transferred only once and only to close relatives, after which the lease would revert to the state and the DNR would restore the shoreline for public use.
Leversedge said the DNR is working with the State Historic Preservation Office to preserve a representative sample but that maintaining all 158 lakeshore lots and their boathouses may not be practical. He described the boathouses as corrugated-steel structures on the National Register and said some lots may be better returned to day-use public facilities.
Representative Schultz and other members supported further discussion; the committee laid HF 15‑70 over for possible inclusion so stakeholders and agencies can pursue compromise language and options.
No formal committee action beyond the layover was taken at the hearing.
