The Lake Vermilion Trail Joint Powers Board announces the availability of the Lake Vermilion Trail Draft Master Plan for public review. The vision of the Trail is: “The Lake Vermilion Trail will be a premier, paved, scenic route providing an opportunity for healthy, safe, non-motorized, year-round transportation and recreation connecting Cook and Tower/Soudan in the beautiful natural landscape south of Lake Vermilion for residents and visitors.” Three public meetings will be held to take community input on the Draft Master Plan:

• Tuesday, April 17th, 5:30 – 7:00 pm, Tower Civic Center
• Wednesday, April 18th, 5:30 – 7:00 pm, Cook Community Center
• Thursday, April 19th, 5:30 – 7:00 pm, Greenwood Town Hall

The meetings will be in an Open House format; displays describing important policies in the Plan will be stationed around the rooms on which people may comment. Community members are welcome to come and go at any time during the Open House. A brief presentation about the Plan will be given at 6:00 pm.

The Draft Master Plan will be available for public review from April 13 to April 23 in the page section below. Comments may be submitted in writing in the form below. A copy of the Draft Master Plan will also be at the Cook Public Library, Tower City Hall, and Cook City Hall.

After the public meetings, the Draft Master Plan will be revised to consider comments received, and a Final Draft Plan will be reviewed at the next Lake Vermilion Trail Joint Powers Board meeting at 10:00 am, April 26th. In order to be eligible for State Parks & Trails Legacy funding, a Master Plan must be written and approved by the Greater Minnesota Regional Parks and Trails Commission, and must include elements that are specified in the Greater Minnesota Regional Parks and Trails Strategic Plan. The Lake Vermilion Trail Master Plan has been written to meet these requirements. The Joint Powers Board intends to submit the Master Plan for review by the Commission at the end of April, after the Joint Powers Board approves it.

The Master Plan is an update to the Lake Vermilion Trail Plan from 2011. The Master Plan addresses trail development, trail design, trail corridor acquisition, plan implementation, organizational development, fundraising, trail operations, and trail marketing. It also includes sections on natural resources, trail-related programming, and future trail user studies. The Master Plan includes a broad concept map of the planned trail corridor, which has changed only slightly since the 2011 Plan, but it does not include exact alignments for the trail.

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How to Review and Provide Feedback

The public review period is now closed. Thank you to those who provided their input!