05-24-1993 Council Minutes2 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Committee of the Whole Meeting of April 15, 1993 Business Item: B-2 METROPOLIT.AN COUNCIL Mears Park Centre, 230 East Fifth Street. St. Paul, Minnesota 55101 612 291-6359 TDD 612 291-0904 DATE: TO; FROM: SUBJECT: March 31. 1993 Metropolitan Council Committee of the Whole Stc\’cn Schwanke, Research and Long Range Planning City of Orono Comprehensive Plan Amendment Comprehensive Sanitary Se^^’er Plan, Tier I Metropolitan Council Referral File No. 14023-4 Metropolitan Council District No. 13 ) J DESCRIPTION OF PLAN AMENDMENT The city of Orono has submitted a comprehensive sanitary sewer tier I plan amendment in response to the Council ’s 1988 Sanitary Sewer System Statement. The plan amendment also includes a request to expand the Metropolitan Urban Service Area by approximately 171 acres. Of this, approximately 140 acres consists of existing residential development already connected to central sanitary sewer service, and a Hennepin County regional park. REGIONAL POLICY ISSUES The city’s proposed plan amendment raises several regional policy issues. The primary regional policy issue is the problem of infiltration and inflow (I/I) of clear water into the municipal sanitary sewer system. Measured wastewater flows increased significantly from 190 million gallons in 1990 to 241 million gallons in 1991. To address the I/I issue, the city is proposing to update its 1981 HI Analysis, establish an inspection program to eliminate illegal clear water connections, and submit annual progress reports to the Metropolitan Waste Control Commission and the Metropolitan Council. The city is taking sufficieni steps to address its I/I problem. A second policy issue relates to the city’s rural area density. The city has allowed 2- and 5-acre residential lots in the rural service area and has demonstrated that existing development in the rural service area exceeds the Council ’s rural residential development density of one unit per 10 acres. This means that the city has already developed its rural area at residential densities greater than that prescribed by Council policy. The city, however, has addressed all of the performance criteria in the appendix of the rural service area guidelines. This qualifies the city for an exception to the Council ’s Rural Service Area policies. The third policy issue is the cit> of Orono has not adopted the Council ’s Interim Strategy to Reduce Nonpoint Source Pollution to All Metropolitan Water Bodies. However, the city submitted the proposed plan amendment before the Council adopted the Interim Strategy. Consequently,