04-28-1997 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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Item 17 14. Comment: “Erosion and Sedimentation should offer greater detail on measures proposed to manage the grading/excavation of approximately 80 acres of land by moving almost 340,000 cubic yards of soil material. No grading plan is provided.” Response: Best Management practices to avoid and minimize erosion during construction are included in the design. A seeding plan was distributed to the Cities. A complete set of site construction plans was distributed to the Cities of Orono and Medina, and the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District. The City of Orono supplied a complete set of plans to the DNR at their request. No soil will be moved off site. In addition, earthwork is balanced on each side of Co. Rd. 6, so no soil moving vehicles will have to cross the road. Item 32, Summary of Issues Comment: “...the analysis and consideration of impacts, including examination of the “alternative measures to mitigate the project ’s impact on the Big Woods remnant” should not be deferred to later permitting for a resource of this significance. The possibility of impact avoidance or minimization should be fully evaluated as part of the environmental review process. The EAW does not include this information.” (DNR letter 4/9/97, page 2) Response: Impacts are being reviewed concurrently for the Conditional Use Permit as well as the EAW. It is important to note that the golf course is a permitted use of the Conditional Use Permit. Impacts to the Big Woods have been minimized in several aspects throughout the golf course design. Eleven different routings were prepared and reviewed for the site. A comparison of densities of golf holes on the property south of Co. Rd. 6 and north of Co. Rd. 6 shows that 1 1.80 Acres per hole of land is proposed, compared to a more dense 9.07 Acres per hole in less sensitive areas. The density is significantly lower in the Big Woods. Fairway design is as narrow as possible in sensitive areas such as Big Woods and wetlands. In addition, an area (0.64 acres) has been set aside as upland buffer area, for protection under the Wetland Conservation Act. This upland area is adjacent to residential off-site Big Woods tracts. This area, on the golf course property is in total, approximately 4.6 contiguous acres of Big Woods. Another area where fairways were designed to minimize impacts, allows for a 2 acre parcel of Big Woods. Most Big Wood tracts are connected so as not to leave “islands” of isolated areas. Non-impacted wooded areas adjacent to Big Woods will also lessen the island effect. The clearing process on this golf course will go thru many stages. The first stage will be a clearing, 30 feet either side of the center line of the golf hole. After this initial clearing is completed, all of the clearing from that point on will be flagged. Any tree that is in question to