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HomeMy WebLinkAbout9A - Crystal Bay Wetland CITY COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT DATE: AGENDA #: PREPARED BY: AGENDA ITEM: SEPTEMBER 2, 2003 9A SUE MCDERMOTT, CITY ENGINEER CONSIDER APPROVAL OF A RESOLUTION APPROVING THE WETLAND REPLACEMENT PLAN FOR CRYSTAL BAY, CITY PROJECT 02-34. DISCUSSION: Historv On January 18, 1994, the City Council passed Resolution 94-01 adopting the permanent rules of the Wetland Conservation Act (WCA) of 1991. Along with this, the Council also assumed the role of local government unit (LGU) for making WCA determinations for landowners. The purpose of WCA is as follows: 1. Achieve a no net loss in the quantity, quality, and biological diversity of Minnesota's existing wetlands; 2. Increase the quantity, quality, and biological diversity of Minnesota's wetlands by restoring or enhancing diminished or drained wetlands; 3. Avoid direct or indirect impacts from activities that destroy or diminish the quantity, quality, and biological diversity of wetlands; and 4. Replace wetland values where avoidance of activity is not feasible or prudent. Current Circumstances As part of the Crystal Bay development plan, the developer has requested approval of a wetland replacement plan for the project. The reason a replacement plan is required is that there is one wetland area located generally in the center of the parcel that will be impacted due to street construction and lot development. The wetland runs the entire length of the parcel from north to south and takes up a significant portion of the center of the parcel. Any means of further reducing wetland impacts would require relocating the storm water pond. The final design calls for 4,830 square feet of existing wetland to be filled. Mitigation is proposed off-site through the purchase of wetland banking credits. This will be mitigated at a rate of 2: 1, with the 4,830 square feet of Public Value Credit and 4,830 square feet of New Wetland Credit. The proposal meets the mitigation and sequencing criteria. 1626~\\i:!iI/JmIl'lwtr.y!ialba~DOOJ<e, Minnesota 55372-1714 / Ph. (952) 447-4230 / Fax (952) 447-4245 AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER Attached is a memorandum from Andi Moffatt of WSB & Assoc. who has been acting as the City's representative on wetland issues. Issues A letter was received from the Prior lake Spring lake Watershed District during the comment period. A copy of the letter is attached to this report. The letter indicates that the Board recently passed a resolution stating that for wetlands that are filled within the District boundaries, wetland replacement must be within the District boundaries. This requirement is more stringent than the WCA. More important, this application for wetland credit was submitted before this policy change and should not therefore be subject to the new position. In addition, the City is the local Government Unit (LGU) for the WCA and the City does not have this requirement. Therefore this application meets both City and WCA requirements. In the near future, staff will be proposing ordinance revisions which will match language in the Watershed District's recently revised rules. At that time staff proposes that the City consider adopting a policy similar to the Prior lake-Spring lake Watershed District policy to include the following prioritization for the location of replacement wetlands as follows: 1. On site 2. Within the same sub-watershed 3. Within the Prior Lake-Spring lake Watershed District 4. Outside of the Prior lake-Spring lake Watershed District Since the City did not have this policy in place at the time of the Crystal Bay application, it is appropriate to approve the proposed replacement plan. Conclusion Staff recommends that the Council approve the Wetland Replacement Plan for Crystal Bay with the following condition: 1. The banking credits are deposited into the BWSR (Board of Water and Soil Resources) bank prior to the start of grading in the wetland and proof of his deposit is submitted to the City. ALTERNATIVES: The alternatives are as follows: 1. Adopt the attached resolution that approves the Wetland Replacement plan for Crystal Bay (City Project #02-34). 2. Deny this item for a specific reason and provide staff with direction. RECOMMENDED MOTION: 3. Table this item for specific reason. A motion and second to adopt Resolution 03-XX. REVIEWED BY: RESOLUTION 03-XX RESOLUTION APPROVING THE WETLAND REPLACEMENT PLAN FOR CRYSTAL BAY PROJECT NO. 02-34 MOTION: SECONDED: WHEREAS, the developer has prepared plans that avoid unnecessary wetland filling on the project to the greatest extent possible; and WHEREAS, sequencing criteria has been met; and WHEREAS, mitigation is proposed off-site through the purchase of wetland banking credits in the amount of 4,830 square feet of new wetland and 4,830 square feet of public value credit; and WHEREAS, the mitigation plan is in accordance with the Wetland Conservation Act and City of Prior Lake ordinances. NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF PRIOR LAKE, that the Wetland Replacement Plan for Crystal Bay be approved with the following conditions: 1. The recitals set forth above are incorporated herein. 2. The banking credits are deposited into the Board of Water and Soil Resources bank prior to the start of grading in the wetland and proof of this deposit is submitted to the City. Passed and adopted this 20d day of September, 2003. YES NO Hauoen Hauoen Blomberg Blombera LeMair LeMair Peterson Peterson Zieska Zieska {Seal} City Manager City of Prior Lake 16200 I@.1II@S~lil5IlrRllu/iit)~~Il?a~J&I5e, Minnesota 55372-1714 / Ph. (952) 447-4230 / Fax (952) 447-4245 AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER . WSB ciA... iates,1nc. Memorandum To: Sue McDermott, P.E., City of Prior Lake From: Antli Moffatt, Biologist Dm~ August2~20~ Re: Wetlond Conservation Act Wetland ReplfUement Plan Approval Crystal Bay Townhomes WSB Project No. 143()"19 Attached, please find the draft Notice of Wetland Conservation Act Decision and Wetland Conservation Act Determination Findings and Conclusions for the Crystal Bay Townhomes project for City Council consideration at their upcoming meeting. Outlined below, please find our review and summary of the Wetland Replacement Plan: . The Wetland Replacement Plan application was received from the applicant on July 2,2003. The application was determined to be complete and submitted for a 30-day agency comment period. The 30-day comment period ended on August 15,2003. The wetland delineation was field checked in June 2003. . The project includes filling 4,830 sf of Type 1 wetland to accommodate site grading and the storm sewer system. Mitigation is proposed off-site through the purchase of wetland banking credits (4,830 sf of Public Value Credit and 4,830 sf of New Wetland Credit) from a wetland bank in Louisville Township held by Mr. Donald Breegeman. . Both the wetland impact and banking site are within the Minnesota River-Shakopee (#33) major watershed. The impact site is within the Prior Lake subwatershed. The replacement site is within the Thole/O'Dowd Lake subwatershed. . The Wetland Conservation Act (WCA) requires that wetland replacement be on-site if possible. If this is not possible, the replacement site needs to be in the same major watershed as the impacted wetland. Since on-site replacement is not feasible for this project, replacement within the same watershed is required. The banking site is within the same watershed as the impacted site (Minnesota River-Shakopee). . A letter from the Prior Lake-Spring Lake Watershed District was received on August 15, 2003. This letter indicated that the Board recently passed a resolution stating that for wetlands that are filled within the PLSL WD boundaries, wetland replacement must be within the PLSL WD boundaries. This requirement is more stringent than the WCA. The City is the Local Government Unit (LGU) for the WCA and the City does not have this requirement. Therefore, the banking August 20, 2003 Page 2 of2 application meets the requirements of the WCA. Additionally, the application was submitted prior to the PLSLWD policy change and therefore should not be subject to this policy. . Discussions with the Scott County Soil and Water Conservation District and Board of Water and Soil Resources have occurred during the review period to provide and obtain clarification about the project. These agencies confirmed that the banking site was approved by the TEP. The paperwork for the deposit of the Breegeman banking credits is currently being processed by BWSR. We recommend that the banking application be approved with the following conditions: 1. The Breegeman banking credits are deposited into the BWSR Bank prior to the start of grading in the wetland and proof of this deposit is submitted to the City. Once these credits are deposited, the City will sign the Withdrawal ofWet1and Credits application and submit it to BWSR. These documents have been provided to you for review as part of the Crystal Bay Townhomes review and approval. Once the Council has approved the wetland replacement plan, these documents will be sent to the appropriate agencies for their information. If you have any questions, please feel free to call me at (763) 287-7196. Attachments c. Dave Hutton, P.E., WSB PRIOR LAKE ~ SPRING lAKE WATERSHED DISTRICT ~ (952) 447-4166dH~j' Fax 447-4167 '" .. .... ~$ ~ ~ ~-J~L~ Au,." >s. 2. ~:'AUG !j~ : 1~03~ m Sue McDermott, City Engineer City of Prior Lake 16200 Eagle Creek Ave SE Prior Lake, MN 55372-1714 8y Re: Wetland Replacement Plan - Crystal Bay Townhomes Dear Ms. McDermott: The District received the "Notice of Wetland Conservation Act Application" for Crystal Bay Townhomes, dated July 16, 2003. We proVide the following comments to you in your capacity as the responsible Local Governmental Unit (LGU) for the Wetland Conservation Act. As you know, th.e Watershed District Board is committed to maintaining and increasing stormwater storage in the District in order to address the critical issue of volume management which sometimes manifests itself in the form of "unacceptable" lake levels. Towards that end, the District Board passed a general resolution on Auoust 12 Jnn"! r-pgarding replacement of wetlands. That resolution formalizes the lloard's unanimous direction that, if wetlands are to be replaced, they be replaced to benefit this watershed. Therefore, in keeping with the Board's resolution, we requestthat the wetland replacement for the Crystal Bay town homes be accomplished on the site, within the same subwatershed or at least within the watershed of PriOr Lake. Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the wetland replacement plan. Sincerely, Prior Lake-Spri~g ~h_ed District . /~...-~~ J.$. Eggen // District Technician CC: Andrea Moffatt, WSB & Associates, fax-763-541-1700 Pete Beckius, Scott County SWCD, fax-952-492-5422 15815 FRANKliN TRAiL S.E.. PRIOR LAKE, MN 55372 ,/1' Ri'"' ,\)~-'-f2~ . /....,. -.,(\ it/ \~\ ',ui ;':n; \ \. ' i '\~...~~/ '.:~.N.i..S?/ Wetland Conservation Act Notice LGU: City of Prior Lake 16200 Eagle Creek A venue SE Prior Lake, MN 55372-1714 WETLAND CONSERVATION ACT DETERMINATION FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS Name of Applicant: Tom Heiland 212 Development Group LLC Project name: Crystal Bav Townhomes The wetland replacement plan for the above referenced project was approved by the Prior Lake City Council on September 2, 2003 based on the fmdings and conclusions outlined below. It has been determined that wetland impacts have been avoided, minimized, rectified, and reduced to the greatest extent reasonable based on site constraints within the project area. For those impacts that could not be avoided, the proposed wetland replacement plan includes the following impact and mitigation plans: Sauare feet Wetland Fill 4,830 ft" Wetland Excavation 0 Total Imnact 4,830 ft' New Wetland Credit Purchased from Bank 4,830 ft' Public Value Credit Purchased from Bank 4,830 ft' Total Mitil!ation Purchased 9,660 ft2 Total Mitil!ation Required 9,660 ft" The submitted application is approved based on the following condition: 1. The Breegeman banking credits are deposited into the BWSR Bank prior to the start of grading in the wetland and proof of this deposit is submitted to the City. Once these credits are deposited, the City will sign the Withdrawal of Wetland Credits application and submit it to BWSR. Qualified by the above conditions, the wetland replacement plan has been determined to offset the wetland impacts and fully complies with the Wetland Conservation Act. You are hereby notified that the decision ofthe Local Government Unit on the above- referenced application was made on the date stated above. A copy of the Local Government Unit's Findings and Conclusions is attached. Pursuant to Minn. R 8420.0250 any appeal of the decision must be commenced by mailing a petition for appeal to the Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources within thirty (30) days of the date of the mailing of this Notice: Date of mailing of this notice: City of Prior Lake By: Andrea Moffatt. WSB & Associates for the City of Prior Lake Title: BiolOlrist ,,'G~"., I~/ -(~ 1-( \,:;\ \'\ ?'j \~~/ NOTICE OF WETLAND CONSERVATION ACT DECISION LGU : City of Prior Lake 16200 Eagle Creek Avenue SE Prior Lake, MN 55372-1714 Name of applicant: Tom Heiland. 212 Development GrOUD. LLC Project name: Crystal Bay Townhomes Type of application: o Exemption o No loss o Replacement plan i:8]Banking plan Location of project: Section 34. TI15. R22W. Scott County Date of decision: SeDtember 2. 2003 Type of decision: 0 Approve ~ Approve with conditions (conditions listed in the Findings and Conclusions) o Deny List of Addressees: , Ms. Lynda Peterson Mr. Pete Beckius Board of Water and Soil Resources Scott Soil and Water Conservation District One West Water Street - Suite 200 7151 W 190tb St - Suite 125 S1. Paul, MN 55107 Jordan, MN 55352 Mr. Wayne Barstad DNR Wetland Coordinator . DNR - Ecological Services Division Ecological Services Section . 1200 Warner Road 500 Lafayette Road, Box 25 I S1. Paul, MN 55106 S1. Paul, MN 55155 Ms. Christina Carballal Mr. Jim Eggen US Corps of Engineers Prior Lake-Spring Lake Watershed District Attn: CO-R 190 Fifth Street E 15815 Franklin Trail SE S1. Paul, MN 55101 Prior Lake, MN 55372 Mr. Pat Lynch Mr. Tom Heiland DNR Waters 212 Development Group 1200 Warner Road PO Box 89 S1. Paul, MN 55106 Chaska, MN 55318 Mr. Mike DeRuyter Kjolhaug Environmental 26105 Wild Rose Lane Shorewood. MN 55331