07-11-1994 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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L G STATE OF _^DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES ^ T iETRO waters - 1200 WARNER ROAD, ST. PAUL, MN 55106 PHONE NO. 772-7910 FILE NO May 6, 1994 Mr. Mike Gaffron City of Orono P.O. Box 66 Crystal Bay, Minnesota 55323 RE: DESIGNATION OF FRENCH LAKE MARSH (27-14OP), CITY OF ORONO, HENNEPIN COUNTY Dear Mr. Gaffron: I have reviewed the City of Orono's request to redesignate the "North Basin" and "Former Sewage Lagoon" portions of French Lake Marsh that you outlined in your letter of March 23, 1994. You note that the three basins are covered by one DNR Protected Waters Inventory number (i.e., 27-140P), however, they have three different ordinary high water elevations and basin characteristics. The City requests that only the South Basin continue to be classified as Natural Environment and that the North Basin and Former Sewage Lagoon be recognized as separate basins and be reclassified as wetland basins subject to the City's wetland regulations. We find the proposed designations of the three basins to be substantially compliant with the state shoreland management regulations and, therefore, find your proposed redesignation to be acceptable. Please note, however, that we see this as a unique situation and consider the request to be a clarification of the boundary of the classified lake rather than "unclassification" of the North Basin and Former Sewage Lagoon. North Basin and the Former Sewage Lagoon were added to 27-140P (French Lake Marsh) during the Protected Waters Inventory process in the late 1970's and early 1980's. The original French Lake Marsh (i.e., the South Basin) was classified as Natural Environment in the mid-1970's for shoreland management purposes. Therefore, the North Basin and Former Sewage Lagoon are still Public Water Wetlands, but are not classified for shoreland management purposes. AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER - I