Houghton County Agrees To Buy Otter Lake Dam Access For $1

The Otter Lake Dam continues to be a contentious topic for the county.

At their monthly meeting Tuesday, the Houghton County Board of Commissioners voted 4-1 to buy the property from the state necessary to access the dam.

The county owns and is responsible for maintaining the dam, even though the state originally paid to have the dam built at the county’s request.

However, the state owns the property that has the access road to the dam and if the state were to sell the land to a private owner, that owner could feasibly prohibit the county from accessing the dam.

To prevent that unlikely scenario, the land transaction gives the county an easement for the road to the dam and a 100 foot buffer around the dam.

The cost to the county for the transaction is one dollar.