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HomeMy WebLinkAbout09 25 2015 Metropolitan Council Letter August 24, 2015 Mayor Ken Hedberg City of Prior Lake 4646 Dakota Street SE Prior Lake, Minnesota 55372 Via Electronic Delivery Dear Mayor Hedberg, It has come to my attention that after recent discussions between the Metropolitan Council (Council) and the City of Prior Lake (City), there remains some confusion about the path forward regarding the City's previously planned annexation of Spring Lake Township. I'm writing today to clarify what can happen if the City were to depart from its comprehensive plan and fail to support forecasted growth. Let me reiterate on behalf of Council staff, Council Member Barber and myself, we appreciate the City keeping the Council apprised of the situation. It appears that the City continues to seek ways to implement its comprehensive plan in a manner that is consistent with the Council's metropolitan system plan for sewered development. I am committed to continuing to work closely with you to resolve the situation positively for the City and the Council. At the direction of the Legislature, the Council plans for and operates the regional wastewater treatment system, a system that is both efficient and cost-effective. By making costly infrastructure investments only in areas of planned growth and by creating efficiencies of scale through a regional wastewater treatment system, the Council offers communities and residents wastewater rates that are 40 percent below the national average. For communities like Prior Lake, this means we extend sewer service to areas where we project growth and we ask these communities to implement comprehensive plans that support that growth and utilize regional sewer infrastructure efficiently through appropriate development. Our mandate from the legislature compels the Council to be as efficient as possible when we build regional infrastructure such as sewers. We work to construct the right capacity, in the right location, at the right time to stay ahead of development demands. In order to do so, we depend on communities to effectively implement their comprehensive plans. Inefficiencies and underutilization of sewer capacity result in additional and unnecessary costs to ratepayers across the region, which is why the Council works so closely with communities like Prior Lake to accomplish planned-for development. Based on conversations between City and Council staff, I understand the situation to be as follows: In 2003, the City of Prior Lake revised an annexation agreement that originated in the 1970s relating to Spring Lake Township. The City had planned to extend sewer and water service down Stemmer Ridge Road to serve both homeowners already in the township and additional 390 Robert Street North I Saint Paul, MN 55101-1805 P.651.602.1000 I TTY.651.291.0904 I metrocouncil.org METROPOLITAN COUNCIL residents expected with future development. The City began working towards the eventual annexation with public infrastructure improvements, including improvements that were in the City's Capital Improvement Plan for 2014-15. In the interim, the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community (SMSC) purchased the property over which the road, sewer, and water expansion would be located and moved toward putting that property in trust. In 2015, City staff negotiated an agreement with the SMSC through which the SMSC would provide the right of way, design and build the road, sewer, and water and maintain the road to the annexation area in perpetuity in exchange for the City's support of the SMSC's application to put the land in trust. However, the Prior Lake City Council subsequently directed City staff to take no action on the agreement. Additional attempts by City staff to pursue alternatives with the SMSC have also been rejected by the City Council. To date, the City has not submitted a comprehensive plan amendment to the Council. Under its approved 2030 Comprehensive Plan, the City has an obligation to continue to work towards development that will fully utilize the sewer capacity that will accommodate the planned-for future growth the City expects. This growth is currently planned to be accommodated largely in the annexed portions of the township. The City may have development options other than the annexed portions of the township that would accommodate the projected growth. I've directed our staff to continue to be a resource to the City as it explores these options. The City's next comprehensive plan update is not due to the Council until the end of 2018. If the City continues to work in good faith towards utilizing the regional sewer infrastructure to its full capacity and accommodating growth consistent with the Metropolitan Council's metropolitan system plan for wastewater service, the Council may not need to take action between now and its review of the City's 2040 comprehensive plan. If the City Council decides to not accommodate additional growth that would more fully utilize the sewer capacity, the City would need to amend its 2030 comprehensive plan (and submit that amendment to the Council for review) or submit its 2040 comprehensive plan update with information reflective of that decision. I sincerely hope the City does not decide that it will not accommodate additional planned-for growth. Doing so would require the Council to determine whether the City's plan represents a departure from the Council's metropolitan system plan and to possibly require that the City modify its plan in order to conform to the metropolitan system plan for sewered development. The City's comprehensive plan for supporting sewered development acknowledges that the Council will uphold its commitment to the City to provide wastewater service and the City will do its part to support development where regional investments have been made as laid out in the Council's metropolitan system plan. Under Minnesota Statutes section 473.175, the Council can require cities to modify comprehensive plans that contain a substantial departure from metropolitan systems plans. That statutory authority was confirmed in 2004 by the Minnesota Supreme Court in the City of Lake Elmo v. Metropolitan Council matter. We were asked whether the Council could or would levy fines on the City of Prior Lake if the City refused to modify its plan to conform to the Council's metropolitan system plan. In the most extreme example to date, the City of Lake Elmo contested the Council's decision to require a comprehensive plan modification. After the Council prevailed in that matter, the Council and City of Lake Elmo entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in order to implement the Minnesota Supreme Court's Page-2 I August 24,2015 I METROPOLITAN COUNCIL decision. According to the terms of that MOU, the City was subject to fines to cover the costs of unused sewer capacity if it failed to meet agreed upon sewered development targets consistent with the metropolitan system plan and forecasted growth for the City of Lake Elmo. We hope the City of Prior Lake will consider all options available to meet its commitments for planned growth and sewer capacity utilization and that this matter can be resolved through the regular planning process. Please do not hesitate to contact me or Council Member Deb Barber if you have additional concerns. LisaBeth Barajas and Angela Torres in our Local Planning Assistance unit will continue to be available to provide assistance and guidance to the City until we resolve this matter. They can be reached at 651-602-1895 and 651-602-1566 respectively. Sincerely, Adam Duininck Chair CC: Prior Lake City Council Member Richard Keeney Prior Lake City Council Member Mike McGuire Prior Lake City Council Member Monique Morton Prior Lake City Council Member Annette Thompson Prior Lake City Manager Frank Boyles Metropolitan Council Member Deb Barber Page-3 I August 24,2015 I METROPOLITAN COUNCIL