The Gardner council president says the city is giving up ownership of Gardner Lake, but other city officials say no such plans exist.

Council President Mark Baldwin’s lengthy Facebook post two weeks ago about plans to sell or transfer ownership of the lake after the spillway is rebuilt has caused quite a stir among residents and lake users.

The city currently owns the approximately 125-acre lake, though it is almost completely surrounded by private properties. Most of those properties are on unincorporated Johnson County land, and a few are in Gardner city limits.

The lake sits on the northern outskirts of Gardner, west of New Century AirCenter.

A 90-day, $740,000 spillway repair project at the lake’s nearly century-old dam — long in the works and funded by a state grant, Johnson County and the city — began in September and is still ongoing.

In his post, Baldwin wrote that the city needed “to repair it so it’s in good shape before transferring/selling it,” potentially to an informal group of residents who own property along the lakeshore, known as the Gardner Lake Association.

“Thus, since it’s essentially a private lake that happens to have public access we worked with the lake association and the property is being transferred to them after the spillway project is completed,” Baldwin wrote last month.

Gardner Lake Association doesn’t want to own it

The Gardner Lake Association is a group of lake residents that organizes events, monitors lake health and shares news concerning the lake and its residents. While not officially a homeowners association, the group has formed a task force to help manage lake costs and come up with solutions for the future.

Leslie Hind, treasurer of the Gardner Lake Association, said the association doesn’t want to take over ownership, but lake residents do want to save it.

She told the Post that during previous discussions with the city, the city “expressed zero interest in owning the lake”, but they did give the association the option to buy it.

“The goal of the Taskforce has always been to ensure that Gardner Lake is cared for responsibly – not own it,” Hind said in an email to the Post. “Many times, we have tried to suggest and build a partnership with the city, but the only option given was to buy it for $1.

“We acknowledge that tides can turn, and we welcome a partnership between residents and the city of Gardner to ensure the lake is cared for properly.”

The Johnson County Post has reached out to the city and the Gardner Lake Association for records of the $1 offer. The story will be updated if the Post finds or receives records.

City says there are no plans to sell the lake

During a Gardner City Council meeting in February 2023 — the last time the Post was able to verify that selling the lake or giving up ownership was officially broached in a public meeting — Baldwin said he wanted the city to give up responsibility for the lake.

At that time, Baldwin himself suggested the city give the lake to the Gardner Lake Association, mostly because maintenance and improvements are cost-prohibitive and because most of the lakeshore is privately owned and inaccessible to the public.

When contacted by the Post, Baldwin deferred the matter to the city spokesperson, Daneeka Marshall-Oquendo, who confirmed in earlier emails that the city isn’t in the process of selling the lake and that city staff is unaware of any such plans.

“The sale of Gardner Lake is not currently scheduled to appear on a City Council meeting agenda,” Marshall-Oquendo said via email. “If the city were to pursue the sale of the lake, the City Council would need to reach consensus to move forward as part of an open meeting. The public would also have an opportunity to provide input.”

Baldwin, speaking through Marshall-Oquendo, said his response to the questions he received about the lake was based on a discussion “that took place several years ago.”

“His response reflected his understanding of that prior discussion and was not based on a new or recent decision,” she added.

Councilmember Kelly Johnson told the Post that Baldwin’s post made it seem like the transfer of ownership was “a wrapped-up and done deal.” She joined the city council this past December. Since then, she said, it hasn’t been discussed in city council or been on any meeting agendas.

Still, the potential of a change in ownership and privatization of the lake has sparked online discourse full of questions and concerns.

Some raised those concerns during a campaign event for Kristen Schultz, Democratic candidate for Kansas House District 43, at a lakeside shelter on Oct. 3.

And one lake user, Gardner resident Ryan Miller, also spoke up at the Oct. 5 city council meeting. Councilmember Mark Wiehn said later in the meeting that problems regarding the lake would continue to be discussed.

Petition launches to keep lake public

Miller used the opportunity at Schultz’s campaign event to gather nearly a dozen people to protest privatizing the lake. He brought signs that read, “Keep Gardner Lake Public” and “Save The Lake.”

Miller, who said he uses the lake almost every day for fishing, has been vocal online and started a petition to stop the lake from being sold to a private entity. As of Friday morning, the petition has collected nearly 500 signatures.

Miller said local fisheries, scouting troops and local high schoolers use the public lake often, and he himself has contributed much to keeping the public area clean.

“The city and the state is gonna spend almost a million dollars on this dam and then turn it over to people who are gonna put a gate up and tell me I’m not welcome here anymore,” Miller said.

Marshall-Oquendo, the city spokesperson, said spillway project costs, including demolition, construction and testing, total $742,619, including a $500,000 state grant and remaining costs of $135,257, split between the county and city.

Ongoing lake maintenance and upkeep costs were part of discussions at the city meeting in 2023 and also remain a sticking point for some lake residents.

At the lake is a public 3.5-acre recreational area at 30100 151st St. that the city maintains. The area includes three park shelters and a boat ramp. The man-made lake was built from 1935-1938 as part of a Works Progress Administration project, according to the Gardner Lake Association’s website.

Concerns about cost

Average annual revenues for the past five years are about $16,325, Marshall-Oquendo said via email. Last year, for instance, the city took in about $16,700, split nearly evenly between dock fees and an annual payment from the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks.

Still, costs associated with Gardner Lake exceed revenues collected from dock fees, she noted.

“The costs for maintenance and upkeep, including mowing, bush trimming, weed spraying, gravel maintenance, tree removal, road grading, personnel, equipment and administrative costs, exceed the annual revenues generated by the lake (specifically dock fees),” she said via email.

In another email, she wrote: “We don’t currently track the total cost of operating and maintaining Gardner Lake, but we do track costs associated with regulatory and compliance requirements, such as dam inspections.”

City council meeting minutes from Feb. 20, 2023, also include discussions of dredging costs, which were estimated at the time to be as high as $2.35 million.

Those costs, Council President Baldwin said in his social media post, were driving his point home. He said the city wants “to dispose of the lake” because, “Having any programming out there is very difficult due to it being surrounded by private properties and Gardner residents shouldn’t have to bear the burden of future large expenses when the lake is limited use.”

Gardner resident Miller and lake resident Brian Walker disagree that the lake’s public use is limited. They say Gardner residents use the public space often; Walker also expressed concern for his neighbors that might be taxed out of their homes if the lake was privatized.

“I personally could probably benefit from [privatization],” Walker said. “I’m not in this for me. There’s easily half of those residents on the lakefront that are older, retired, or on a budget.”