The plummeting water levels of White Bear Lake have been a slowly unfolding environmental calamity, but for homeowners living along its fast-receding shores it's also proving to be financially ruinous.
At a time when home values are recovering from a deep recession, homeowners along the lake say their property values in what had been a prized location have evaporated by as much as 40 percent in the past three years. And there is no relief in sight.
Len Pratt, a homebuilder for 40 years and a real estate agent for nearly as long, lives on the lake's south shore in Birchwood Village. He was among several of the city's residents last week petitioning the Washington County Board of Appeal & Equalization for reduced property valuations, and thus their property tax bills.
The level of White Bear Lake, one of the largest and deepest in the Twin Cities and a longtime recreational mecca lauded by the likes of Mark Twain and F. Scott Fitzgerald, began falling several years ago, reaching a record low in 2010 of about 6 feet below normal.
"That was a turning point," Pratt said. "That's when it started to affect the marketplace and property values around the lake."
Residents living on the lake — along with those who come to enjoy its fishing, swimming and boating — have watched in alarm as the shore has receded hundreds of yards, leaving docks and boat lifts high and dry. For the fifth consecutive summer, Ramsey Beach is closed because it is now near a dangerous drop-off. Some areas of shore resemble a swamp, and the lake's condition has made it prone to noxious plants such as Eurasian milfoil.
"The milfoil has just become a thick carpet," Pratt said. "We're not far from having the lake die."
In making their cases to the board, the petitioners said the assessments aren't keeping pace with the marketplace. Pratt said his home, valued in 2010 at nearly $1.2 million, is more accurately valued now at 33 percent less — $800,000. The county's assessment was at just more than $1 million.