Buena Vista County weighs future use of Storm Lake Marina building

Buena Vista County still does not have the final land patent for the Storm Lake Marina, and that leaves the lakefront building’s future unresolved while repairs, rentals and redevelopment stay on hold. County supervisors got a fresh update this week as the county continued working toward taking over the property from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.

The county’s immediate question is no longer whether the transfer will happen. It is what the Buena Vista County Conservation Board wants the marina building to become once the paperwork is finished. County Conservation Director Greg Johnson told supervisors that the board has already settled on a long-term direction for conservation operations near Peterson, where staff, programming and day-to-day functions are expected to remain anchored at the county park.

That leaves the marina structure itself at the center of the debate. Supervisors asked whether the building could be used for public rentals or events, and Johnson said the conservation board has not revisited that possibility since voting this spring to remain open to third-party vendors. He said the financial side matters for both the county and any outside operator, and that those cost questions have to be answered before a practical plan can be set.

The county is still waiting on the final land patent from the DNR and the Iowa Attorney General’s Office. Once that transfer is complete, the 17-acre site becomes county property, but state law requires it to stay open for public recreation.

The transfer itself has been moving through the state process for months. In January 2026, the Iowa Natural Resource Commission voted to recommend that the State Executive Council approve transferring roughly 17.5 acres of marina property to Buena Vista County. The county had requested the transfer in a 2023 resolution, and the commission said the move was desirable under Iowa Code 461A.32, which allows public land to be conveyed to a county for park use.

The plan also includes limits on what changes hands. About 7.5 acres on the north side, including the DNR Fisheries and Law Enforcement building, will remain state-owned. A one-acre portion of that area will stay under county management through a separate agreement, and the state will keep an access easement. The patent will also include a revertment clause so the land returns to state control if it stops being used as a public park.

A county poll identified two main directions: a nature and environmental education center with conservation offices, or a mixed-use public-event space with summer events, shelter-house reservations and occasional nature programming. Supervisor Kathy Croker has backed restoring the site as a public gathering space, while Johnson has proposed a nature center and office space.

The county is still maintaining the site in the meantime, including repairs and a bait shop funded with federal ARPA dollars. In March 2025, supervisors were still looking for a third-party vendor; 10 people had shown interest, but two who were interviewed and toured the site were no longer viable. County Attorney Paul Allen later told supervisors that the state wanted a full abstract of title instead of a simplified ownership report, and that abstract could cost as much as $3,000.