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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10/18/2010 Planning Commission Minutes MINUTES OF T� ORONO PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING Monday,October 18,2010 6:30 o'clock p.m. ROLL The Orono Planning Commission met on the above-mentioned date with the following members present: Acting Chair Loren Schoenzeit, Commissioners Linda Feuss,Denise Leskinen,Jon Schwingler, and Alternate Michelle Winer. Representing Staff were Assistant City Administrator for Long-Term Strategic Planning Mike Gaffron,Planning and Zoning Coordinator Melanie Curtis, and Recorder Jackie Young. City Council Member James Murphy was in attendance. Acting Chair Schoenzeit called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m., followed by the Pledge of Allegiance CONSENT AGENDA Feuss move,Schwingler seconded,to approve the Consent Agenda as submitted. VOTE: Ayes 5, Nays 0. *1. APPROVAL OF PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES OF SEPTEMBER 20,2010 Feuss moved,Schwingler seconded,to approve the minutes of the Orono Planning Commission meeting of September 20,2010, as submitted. VOTE: Ayes 5,Nays 0. NEW BUSINESS 2. STORM WATER MANAGEMENT PLAN Gaffron noted the City has been updating its 2002 Surface Water Management Plan to be in conformance with the updated MCWD Comprehensive Water Resources Management Plan. The City Council had authorized Bonestroo to update the plan in January 2009. Their work was substantially completed by Bob Barth in late 2009 prior to his leaving the firm,but submittal to MCWD was delayed by Staff pending work on the Comprehensive Plan. Jesse Carlson of Bonestroo has taken over for Bob and completed final plan details earlier this year. The draft plan was submitted to MCWD and the Metropolitan Council for comment in June 2010. Comments from those agencies are outlined in Attachments B and C. Final materials have been prepared to address the MCWD comment letter and subsequent discussion points, and those additions/revisions were submitted to MCWD. The MCWD Board is scheduled to approve the plan at their October 14`�' meeting. There are ten sections to the plan: Section 1 offers an introduction to and purpose of the plan. Section 2 provides an inventory of land and water resources within the City. Section 3 includes a comprehensive documentation of the regulatory agencies influencing the management of surface water resources in Orono. Page 1 MINUTES OF THE ORONO PLAIVNING COMMISSION MEETING Monday,October 18,2010 6:30 o'clock p.m. Section 4 provides a current assessment of surface water management in Orono,including storm water modeling,NPDES pernutting process,comparison of regulatory standards, and identification of issues and corrective actions. Section 5 describes in detail Orono's surface drainage system. Section 6 presents Orono's wetland management program and identifies wetland restoration and enhancement opportunities. Section 7 provides technical background for designing surface water management systems in Orono. Section 8lists the goals and policies identified to address surface water management systems in the City. Section 9 summarizes capital projects currently planned with lrnown funding sources to implement the goals and policies listed in Section 8,as well as potential activities and funding mechanisms,including the MCWD'S modeling program, Orono's MS4 permits, and an identification of potential issues and corrective actions. The capital improvement program plan items institute a series of proj ects over the next 10 years to reduce Orono's phosphorus discharge. Section 10 outlines the continued administration of this plan with respect to plan updates and amendments,as well as annual reporting requirements to Minnehaha Creek Watershed District. Gaffron state the most difficult issue to address is meeting the numerical phosphorus reduction goals established for Orono by MCWD. While the draft Phosphorus Reduction Plan meets or exceeds the goals for the Long Lake Creek and painters Creek subwatersheds,meeting the goals for the Lake Minnetonka Direct subwatershed is more difficult. This is due to most of that area being developed with relatively small lots and having short direct runoff patterns limiting the opportunities for projects that are cost- effective in terms of pounds of phosphorus reduced per dollar expended. Because both the Long Lake Creek and painters Creek subwatersheds ultimately drain to Lake Minnetonka,the Plan proposes that MCWD allow credit toward Lake Minnetonka Direct for any excess reductions proposed for these two subwatersheds. Winer asked if Norenberg Park had a phosphorus reducing program a few years ago. Gaffron indicated he does not recall a specific program for Norenberg. Gaffron noted there has been a number of phosphorus reducing projects undertaken by the MCWD over the past 20 years but that they have not achieved the level of reduction that they had originally hoped for. Additionally,while the MCWD currently administers the Wetland Conservation Act for Orono,proposed Water Resources Management Policy 8.Sa on Page 90 of the SWMP indicates Orono will,within the next 12 months, consider the option of assuming administration of WCA responsibilities to ensure no net loss of wetland functions and values. Curtis noted Staff had attended some training on buffer width requirements and things of that nature,it was clear that the City would need to completely change their code to match what the Watershed District is doing or meet or exceed the MCWD requirements to allow the City to take over that responsibility or oversight. Page 2 MINUTES OF THE ORONO PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING Monday,October 18,2010 6:30 o'clock p.m. Gaffron stated the Watershed District also has taken the stance that they do not want to review projects until the City has approved them. Currently the City shares oversight of erosion control with the MCWD. Feuss asked what the process is for changing the oversight jurisdiction. Gaffron indicated once the plan is approved,there will be a memorandum of agreement with the Watershed District that will define whom is responsible for what. Orono can indicate at that time the areas they would like to assume responsibility for. Feuss commented she would strongly support Orono assuming additional responsibility to avoid the average property owner from having to deal with two government agencies on permits. Murphy concurred that it is difficult for the average property owner to deal with two agencies and that there are philosophical differences between the two,which should probably be addressed. Winer stated the Watershed District is easy to work with but that it is difficult to determine which agency has the ultimate responsibility for certain areas. Murphy commented that perhaps a simultaneous planning process would be the best solution. Gaffron stated in order to meet MCWD requireinents for phosphorus removal, a number of storm water system improvement projects have been identified and placed in a 10-year CIP that is fairly ambitious but is necessary given that many of these projects were included in the 2002 SWMI'CIP but were never accomplished due to a variety of factors. Orono's Storm Water Utility generates approximately$135,000 per year and the proposed CIP has an annual cost of$250,000-300,000. Options for maldng up this deficit may include limited increases to the storm water utility rates,partnering with MCWD or others, and a more aggressive approach to pursuit of grant money. Gaffron indicated the Plan also proposes that Orono will assist in funding of MCWD projects that result in phosphorus reduction exceeding the goals established for a given project, in exchange for credit for the excess phosphorus reduction exceeding the goals established for a given project,in exchange for credit for the excess phosphorus amounts, especially within the Painters Creek subwatershed. Since the updated Storm Water Management Plan is technically an amendment of the 2002 SWMP, a public hearing at the Planning Commission is required. Legal notice for the hearing was published on October 7�'and October 14°i. Formal adoption by the City Council is anticipated to occur on October 25`�'. This schedule is necessary to have the SWMP in effect by November ls',which is a requirement of the BWSR Clean Water Fund Grant application process for fiscal year 2011. Staff recommends approval of the plan. Acting Chair Schoenzeit opened the public hearing at 6:57 p.m. There were no public comments regarding this item. Page 3 MINUTES OF THE , ORONO PLANIVING COMMISSION MEETING Monday,October 18,2010 6:30 o'clock p.m. Acting Chair Schoenzeit closed the public hearing at 6:57 p.m. Feuss noted the gap between available funding and needed funding is considerable, and asked what options the City has to obtain additional funds. Gaffron stated there are funds available through the Board of Soil and Water and other organizations have grant money available from time to time and that those will need to be pursued more aggressively. Feuss asked whether it would make sense to have high school interns research all the grants available. Gaffron stated that would be one option the City could look at. Schoenzeit noted there are different scores assigned to various areas and that the average property owner is not aware of what criteria those scores are based on. Schoenzeit recommended that information be disseminated to the property owners. Gaffron stated the City has recently been attempting to incorporate some of this information into their newsletter but that they can perhaps involve more people in that dissemination process. Schoenzeit noted the information provided by the MCWD did not delineate how those scores are arrived at. Schoenzeit commented that storm water management has not been a big topic over the years. Gaffron stated the MCWD probably has that information available and that Staff could obtain it if the Planning Commission would like to see it. Gaffron commented this has not been a high priority for the MCWD given the issues with the zebra mussels and milfoil. Murphy commented the majority of the runoff from Orono goes into Lake Minnetonka and that until it reaches a crisis point,it is difficult to get people's attention. Gaffron stated the banning of phosphorus fertilizers by the state legislature was a major issue and brought some attention to the situation. Gaffron requested the Planning Commission make a recommendation to adopt the Surface Water Management Plan. Winer commented it sometimes takes a year or longer to receive a grant. Gaffron stated the City of Orono has recently received a grant for a property located on ivy Place to perform some lakeshore restoration. Feuss moved,Schwingler seconded,to recommend approval of Orono's Surface Water Management Plan as presented,with the recommendation that Staff be creative in obtaining funds without increasing the storm water utility fees. VOTE: Ayes 5,Nays 0. Page 4 . .. . , MINUTES OF THE ORONO PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING Monday,October 18,2010 6:30 o'clock p.m. PLANIVING COMMISSION COMMENTS 3. REPORT OF PLANNING COMMISSION REPRESENTATIVES ATTENDING CITY COUNCIL MEETINGS ON SEPTEMBER 27,2010,AND OCTOBER 11,2010 Feuss noted she was in attendance at the September 27"'City Council but that it was a relatively short meeting and the majority of the items was placed on the Consent Agenda. Leskinen reported she attended the October 11`"meeting and that the columbarium and Schussler applications were tabled. Curtis stated two options will be presented to the City Council at their next meeting in order to address Good Shepherd's concerns. The Klingelhutz application was directed to work out their engineering issues and once those are worked out, Staff would be bringing an approval resolution to the Council. Curtis stated the other matter discussed at the October 11`"meeting was a possible cul-de-sac on Crystal Bay Road. Murphy commented the issues with Crystal Bay have been going on for a lengthy period of time and that � the residents are tired of vehicles cutting through their neighborhood to access the Lafayette Club and Minnetonka Beach. Murphy stated closing one end of the road really is not a viable solution given the land acquisition costs and other issues. Murphy indicated a task force was formed to look at other options. Winer commented the lack of parking for the Dakota Rail is also creating traffic problems in the area. 4. OTHER ISSUES FOR DISCUSSION None 5. SELECTION OF REPRESENTATIVES TO ATTEND CITY COUNCIL MEETINGS ON OCTOBER 25,2010,AND NOVEMBER 8,2010 October 25, 2010—Feuss November 8,2010—Leslcinen ADJOURNMENT Feuss moved,Leskinen seconded,to adjourn the Orono Planning Commission at 7:25 p.m. VOTE: Ayes 5,Nays 0. Kim Kang,Chair Page 5