Lake Facts
No single party is responsible for Shavers Lake:
When the original Shaver Lake Preservation Association was established in 1984, the lake owners had different priorities and interests than today. Over the past 40 years, both the lake and its community have evolved, resulting in a continuous shift of interests within the Shaver Lake Preservation Association.
A significant challenge in managing the lake has been securing participation from all 27 entities invested in Shaver Lake, a situation that has become increasingly complicated due to changing times and the turnover of lakeside property owners. With 22 acres of lake shared among 27 owners, any owner who fails to contribute to its preservation negatively impacts those who do.
Additionally, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and Minnehaha Creek Watershed District (MCWD) have jurisdiction over Shavers Lake, adding another layer of complexity.
Constituents:
In addition to the diverse wildlife species at Shavers Lake, there exists a community of 27 owners and residents. This group includes families, individuals, trusts, out-of-state residents, renters, and a homeowners' association with each member “technically” owning a share of Shavers Lake.
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As required by the DNR, Shavers Lake is a public access lake encompassing three municipalities:
Woodland to the north, Deephaven to the southwest, and Minnetonka to the southeast. This provision allows residents from surrounding areas to enjoy the lake, especially during the winter months when it serves as a popular walking path.
Real Estate and Taxes:
In 2023 the market values of the Lake owners properties was $71,027,500 with over $850,000 being paid in Hennepin County property taxes
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The market value values of the lake properties not including Breconwood was $35,255,600 with over $400,000 paid in property taxes
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12 homes in Breconwood have direct access to Shavers Lake. Those properties have an average market value 25% higher than the remaining homes in Breconwood.
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The largest portion of the lake acreage is owned by Breconwood and it comprises nearly 25% of the total lake acreage
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The smallest owners of Shavers Lake comprise less than 0.1% ownership of the lake acreage
Shavers Lake is a Eutrophic Lake
Shavers Lake is classified as a eutrophic lake. Eutrophication occurs when there is an accumulation of unwanted or excess nutrients in a water body, often due to human activities such as agriculture, construction, wastewater discharge, and the buildup of organic materials. This excessive nutrient accumulation leads to a significant decline in dissolved oxygen levels, resulting in the death of aquatic life and formation of nutrient-rich muck that can suffocate the lake's bottom. The situation is exacerbated in Shavers Lake, as it is a closed system with no means to discharge the nutrient buildup it experiences.
Technical Specs:
The lake consists of between 5,400 linear feet to 6,500 of shoreline depending upon the water levels at the time.
There is approximately 22 acres of lake comprised of a west lobe, a connecting channel, and an east lobe.
Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) lake ID # 27008600
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Shavers Lake lies within the Shavers Lake Watershed, which is approximately 240 acres or 0.375 square miles, as defined by previous agencies. This self-contained watershed is located at the edge of the MCWD border and does not connect with or affect the rest of the MCWD.
To grasp the challenges facing Shavers Lake, it's essential to first understand the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District (MCWD) and its influence on the development of the Shavers Lake Watershed.
Minnehaha Creek Watershed District (MCWD)
The MCWD encompasses 178 square miles in the western Twin Cities metropolitan area that includes both urban and rural landscapes and roughly 29 cities and townships.
There are 12 distinct sub-watersheds in the MCWD.
The Shaver Lake Watershed comprises 0.2% of the MCWD 178 square miles. It is located within the Lake Minnetonka Watershed which is the largest watershed in the MCWD.
Lake Minnetonka Watershed
Lake Minnetonka watershed is a 50.8 square mile (32,515 acre) sub-watershed and includes portions of 17 cities.
The Shavers Lake Watershed comprises only 0.73% of the Lake Minnetonka Watershed
Principal issues with Lake MNTKA watershed:
Excess nutrients
Localized flooding
Degraded macroinvertebrate populations
Altered shoreline
Drivers of Lake MNTKA issues:
Altered wetlands
Stormwater runoff
Common carp
Altered channels
Internal sediment phosphorus loading
Water quality from upstream waterbodies
Shavers Lake watershed issues and drivers are very different than the Lake Minnetonka Watershed.
MCWD Perspective on How Land Use Affects Water Flows
When land is developed, soil and vegetation are often replaced with impervious surfaces such as roads, sidewalks, and buildings, which prevent water from infiltrating into the ground and cause water to run off quickly. This results in higher peak flows during storm events and can cause flooding and erosion downstream. In contrast, natural vegetation and soil can absorb and slow down water, reducing the amount and speed of runoff.
MCWD works closely with land use decision makers to integrate water resource and land use planning and factors the amount and timing of runoff into Gray’s Bay Dam operations, stormwater management, and strategic capital projects across the watershed.
Shavers Lake Watershed does not impact the other water flowing through the MCWD.
MCWD Perspective on Lake Minnetonka Watershed Runoff
Watershed runoff from rainfall events, or stormwater, can carry nutrients and other pollutants to surface waters leading to negative impacts in lakes, streams and wetlands. In urban and suburban areas, high proportions of impervious surfaces such as parking lots and driveways increase the volume and rate of stormwater runoff, which can cause flooding, and change stream flow in ways that negatively impact habitat for critical parts of the food-web like fish and macroinvertebrates. In rural areas drained for agriculture, the increased volume and peak flow of stormwater runoff causes similar negative impacts.
While the increased volume and rate of stormwater runoff can negatively impact physical conditions in receiving waters, the runoff also carries with it increased loads of pollution that negatively impact the quality of lakes, streams and wetlands. In urban and suburban areas, stormwater picks up excess nutrients, bacteria such as E. coli, chloride from road salt, and other pollutants causing toxicity to organisms or issues with excess nutrients (eutrophication). In more rural areas, stormwater mobilizes pollutants from manure and fertilizer including excess nutrients, bacteria, herbicides and pesticides.
These impacts heavily influence the conditions of surface waters because a healthy hydrologic condition is critical to supporting a healthy lake, stream or wetland. Generally, as impervious cover, altered drainage, and stormwater runoff within a watershed increases, the quality of lakes, streams and wetlands decreases.
The Lake Minnetonka subwatershed is almost fully developed with mostly single family residential uses, but also some agriculture in the western portion of the subwatershed. These land uses increase the volume of stormwater runoff and the phosphorus loads carried by this runoff. Four bays in Lake Minnetonka and Forest Lake exceed the state standard for total phosphorus, and runoff from lawns, streets and agriculture in the subwatershed is a significant source of excess nutrients and sediment.
MCWD view on Lake Minnetonka Watershed Runoff
MCWD monitors the water flow into Lake Minnetonka instead of measuring the actual runoff into the Shavers Lake Watershed, leading to a classification of Shavers Lake as having LOW runoff. In truth, it is a self-contained watershed that experiences some of the HIGHEST runoff in the MCWD.
MCWD Perspective on Sediment Phosphorus Loading
Long term excessive loading of phosphorus to lakes can lead to phosphorus buildup in the sediments of the lake bed. Ultimately, this phosphorus can be released from the sediment back into the water. Further exacerbating the problem, released phosphorus is typically dissolved which is readily available for plant uptake and contributes directly to algae blooms. Sediment phosphorus release can lead to summer algae blooms, poor water clarity and, in severe cases, summer fish kills and harmful algal blooms. Restoration of water quality in lakes often requires significantly reducing phosphorus release from sediments.
Four bays in Lake Minnetonka (Halsted Bay, Jennings Bay, Stubbs Bay and West Arm) and Forest Lake exceed the state standard for total phosphorus and are listed as Impaired Waters. Internal phosphorus loading is likely contributing to these high phosphorus concentrations, especially in Halsted and Jennings Bays, which were secondary receiving waters for municipal wastewater treatment plants until the 1970s. Excess phosphorus loads from wastewater treatment plant discharge may still be present in the bottom sediments. The Upper Minnehaha Creek Watershed Nutrient and Bacteria TMDL requires a 70 and 79 percent reduction in internal load in Halsted and Jennings Bays, respectively.
MCWD view on Lake Minnetonka Watershed Runoff
The Shavers Lake Watershed has the HIGHEST Total Phosphorus Loading per acre in the Lake Minnetonka Watershed. This directly enters Shavers Lake, rather than Lake Minnetonka.
Land-Use vs Runoff into MCWD
26%
32%
70%
From the perspective of land-use runoff, the runoff that enters the Shavers Lake Watershed would look something like this:
What is the Shavers Lake Watershed
The DNR defines a watershed as a landscape area that contains all the land and water features that drain surface water to a specific location. In other words, as you stand and look around, everything uphill that routes water to that point is part of its watershed.
Shavers Lake Watershed
The 2011 Barr Engineering Report identifies the Shavers Lake Watershed as a single watershed; however, it is comprised of five smaller watersheds.
Watersheds:
1 - Flows towards Shavers Lake and Chowens Corner
2 - Flows towards 101
3 - Flows to the middle of area 3
4 - Flows to Minnetonka Blvd and 101
5 - Flows to a small wetland at corner of St Therese
Stormwater Inlets into Shavers Lake
Shavers Lake has 6 inlets and no outlets
1960's Therese Street sewer project 1
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1961 - Shavers Lake Road
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1975 - Breconwood Phase 1
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1977 - Chowens Corner
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1983 - Therese Street sewer upgrade
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1990 - 31 inch sewer installed from Breconwood to 101 to Shavers Lake
1996 - Breconwood Phase 2 added to system
2006 Hwy 101 upgrade added Bank, Liquor Store and Lifetime Fitness into Breconwood system
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2015 Hwy 101 upgrade to Grays Bay added to System
Shavers Lake Watershed Flood Risk
Floodplain maps show what areas are at risk for flooding during high rainfall events. Many of these maps illustrate what areas would likely flood in a "100-year event,"- essentially a 1% chance of flooding on any given year. In Minnetonka, the typical “100-year event” is a 7.4-inch rainfall in 24 hours. The city last updated its floodplain maps in 1999. The updated maps account for more accurate precipitation data, updates to our infrastructure, and land use changes in the last 20 years.
