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Blue Earth County approves three County Ditch 47 petitions after viewer report
Summary
Following an appointed viewer’s report, the board approved drafted findings and orders to remove three parcels (72.42 acres) from County Ditch 47, reducing petitioning parcels’ assessed benefits by about 95% and leaving other parcels’ benefits unchanged.
Blue Earth County’s drainage authority approved three petitions Jan. 20 to remove property from County Ditch 47 after hearing a viewer’s report that recalculated benefit assessments for the petitioning parcels.
Appointed viewer Mark Behrens described the redetermination methodology — which includes watershed acreage, soil type, proximity to county tile, presence of county tile and system efficiency — and said the three petitions cover 72.42 acres. He reported that the original assessed benefits on those acres totaled $85,401 and that the viewer team reduced the petitioning acres’ benefits by 95%, yielding a new benefit total of about $4,270 for the three parcels combined. He said other properties in the watershed were unaffected; their benefit shares remain essentially the same.
Drainage staff had held an informational landowner meeting and prepared viewer and engineer draft reports. The county engineer was not present at the hearing; staff noted ISG’s engineer had attended the landowner meeting and answered questions. The board opened three separate public‑comment periods (one per petition); no members of the public spoke during those comment periods.
After discussion, the board approved the jurisdictional documents and then voted to approve the three drafted findings and orders for the petitions to remove property from County Ditch 47. The viewer said the reduction reflects acres that landowners had shown were tiled out of the system; he noted some acreage remains included at a small 5% factor to account for rare extreme events.
Next steps: The approved orders will be processed per county drainage procedures; petitioning parcels’ reduced benefit shares will apply to future repair/maintenance cost allocations.
