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MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Monday, April 27, 2015 7:00 o’clock p.m. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Page 10 of 21 5. #15-3722 STORMWATER AND DRAINAGE TRUNK FEE – SECOND REVIEW (continued) Gaffron stated the other option is to look at the percentage of the entire property in easements up to a maximum of 25 percent or whatever number the Council deems appropriate. Gaffron stated it would be easier to deal with a percentage since every property is different. McMillan noted stormwater ponding is mandatory and she has difficulty giving credit for that because in order to do a big development or a dense development, it is required. McMillan stated Lakeview did not have to do all that conservation and prairie restoration, which should be a credit, but that a credit should not be given for mandatory items such as protecting wetlands a stormwater ponding. Gaffron stated in the situation of Lakeview, in lieu of stormwater ponding, they are doing conservation areas, which would take the place of stormwater ponding. Gaffron stated one could do an analysis on how much land is being conserved, but because they are creating those conservation easements, the developer will not be creating stormwater ponds. McMillan stated it was her understanding they are building a pond in the northwest. Gaffron stated that has not become part of the plans. Gaffron indicated there was a discussion early on about restoring a wetland but that has not become part of the proposal. McMillan asked why that disappeared from the plan. Gaffron stated it was not part of the preliminary plat or final plat application. McMillan requested Staff follow up on that with the Watershed District since some of that was supposed to help with the water coming into the southwest corner. McMillan stated it was her understanding that they were going to create another pond in that area. Walsh stated if a developer is required to do something, they should not get credit for that, but if they go above and beyond that, they should get a certain percentage up to a certain maximum. Gaffron stated there would be some engineering factors involved in determining what is over and above, and the question is whether it actually reduces the impacts upstream or downstream. Gaffron stated the City could give a credit if someone upstream no longer has to do something based on what is done downstream, but that those are things that would have to be weighed from an engineering standpoint. Gaffron stated in the situation of Lakeville, most of the water that is coming into the northwest corner is coming in from other cities. Gaffron stated the water will come in at a certain rate and a certain quality. The question then could be, if the developer is going to clean that up on the site, what kind of credit is received. Gaffron stated it sounds reasonable to give them a credit but that there would need to be an engineering determination of whether or not the job is really getting done. Gaffron stated the other thing to remember is that the whole fee structure was based 15 years ago on the idea that the City is collecting money to do projects off site in order to serve the entire system and not necessarily the property being developed. Gaffron stated in his view the City Attorney will probably have some comments about that theory. Item #02 - CC Agenda - 05/11/2015 Approval of Council Minutes 04/27/15 [Page 10 of 21]