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ATTACHMENT <br />(FOR DISCUSSION) <br />Subject: SEWER SYSTEM EXPANSION <br />Orono's first municipal sewers were constructed in the Navarre area in 1963, ahd at the same time <br />the Orono sewage treatment plant on Old Crystal Bay Road was constructed. The sewer system <br />grew during the 1960's and 70's to include the Saga Hiii and Tonkawa Road areas, plus a number <br />of outlying areas such as Chevy Chase and Hackberry Hill as well as the extension of the Long Lake <br />system to serve the Orono Schools and our industrial park. <br />Prior to 1975 Orono's 'rural' areas were zoned for 1-acre, 1-1/2 acre and 2 acre minimum lot sizes <br />per the 1967 zoning code. Prior to the mid-1970's, most of rural Orono away from the lake had not <br />had significant amounts of development, just a relatively small r’unber of residential developments <br />created in the 1950's and 1960's at a 1-acre density, such as Webber Hills, the Long Lake Country <br />Club Addition (Lakeview Terrace), and Fox Hill. <br />During the 1970's it was concluded that discharges from the municipal sewage treatment plants <br />around Lake Minnetonka were a detriment to the Lake, and those plants were subsequently <br />dismantled. Lake area sewage thereafter was piped to tlie Blue Lake Treatment Plant on the <br />Minnesota River. Environmental studies concluded that the next biggest problem for the Lake <br />would ultimately be nutrient-laden urban runoff, which would lead to early eutrophication of the <br />Lake, making it >ess usable for recreational purposes. <br />In 1975, as part of an effort to protect Lake Minnetonka from the ravages of urban runoff, 80% of <br />Orono's land was rezoned to low densities (2 acre and 5 acre minimums). As clearly spelled out in <br />the 1980 CMP, the City firmly entrenched itself in the philosophy that the Rural area should never <br />be sewered, because sewers would automatically lead to high-density housing within the upper <br />watershed; that would generate more urban runoff than the natural wetlands could assimilate, and <br />might lead to high water levels that would jeapordize existing shoreland development. <br />Orono's 1980 Community Management Plan (CMP) established that extension of municipal sewer <br />would only occur in the designated Urban area, not in the Rural area. The CMP also, however, <br />specified that 5 identified "Rural Clusters" (historic high-density neighborhoods in the rural area, <br />most with 1/4-1/2 acre lots) would be provided with sewer if studies determined that septic systems <br />were not a viable long-term alternative. After studies were completed, the City ultimately provided <br />sewer to all 5 "Rural Clusters" between 1980 and 1992. These 5 areas included the Minnetonka <br />Bluffs/West Femdale area, the Crystal Bay neighborhood, areas along North Shore Drive, and the <br />north half of Stubbs Bay. <br />In the mid-1990's the City identified 10 additional rural "Hot Spots". These v/ere neighborhoods of <br />medium density (typically 1 -acre lots) where long-term use of septic systems was determined to be <br />difficult, especially in light of new State legislation which eliminated the 'grandfathering' of existing