To the Baxter City Council Members, I attended the public hearing on Nov. 3 at Forestview, and after listening to the discussion, I feel compelled to share my own thoughts. I write as a longtime resident, the CEO of a local business, chair of many local community projects, and proud family member of a near century-old local family business.

I did not grow up in the Brainerd lakes. I married into it. I was born in the Cities, on the banks of Minnehaha Creek. Like Baxter, I grew up surrounded by nature and modern niceties. I first came to Brainerd in 2000 to recruit for the Army. In the early 2000s, many complained of the “Baxterdization” of the Brainerd lakes, fearing the negative impact of expansion in our up-north respite. I shared those concerns at the time, and still miss the trees we

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