Minutes - Council Work Session - 11/13/2007

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ecologically sustainable growth. Secondly, the information compiled in the report will be incorporated in the comprehensive plan update that is currently underway. The inventory has been completed and the final report has been received by staff. He distributed copies of the NRI to the City Council. He noted. that there. were a few significant findings, such as the City being home to a diverse array of natural communities including forests, woodlands, wetlands, grasslands, and open water. He stated that there were also 941 acres of upland cover such as oak forest and oak woodland/brushland. He stated that there was found to be about 874 acres of lowland cover such as cattail marsh. He stated that the NRI also found some unique plant communities including a mesic oak savannah and a poor fen wetland area. He introduced Liza Gould ofBonestroo and Associates and asked her to give a summary of the NRI. Ms. Gould reviewed the background and methodology used to gather information for the NRI. She noted that they used the Minnesota Land Cover Classification System (MLCCS) Mapping that was completed by the Anoka Conservation District and the Wetland Inventory/Functions that was completed in 2006. She stated that along with these, they did their own fieldwork in June and July 2007. She stated that they had a good level of access to properties and were able to take a look and assess the plants and species. In the areas that they did not have direct access, they checked from the edge of the closest accessible access point. Councilmember Dehen asked if every chunk of land in the City was mapped even if it was in a residential area. Ms. Gould stated that all land is mapped, but this project focused more on visiting the natural and semi-natural areas and noted that they did not field verify residential areas. She introduced Amy Carolan who did most of the fieldwork. . Ms. Carolan reviewed the findings from her fieldwork. She noted that there are 821 natural areas mapped with the MLCCS, which covered 3,710 acres or 5.2 square miles. She noted that 3 of the natural areas are in exceptional quality, 46 are high quality, 180 moderate quality, and 19 low quality areas. She reviewed some of the notable sites including a Black Ash Swamp. She stated that overall, most of the residents she worked with seemed very positive and interested in the NRI project. Ms. Gould stated that they looked at identifying future greenway corridors and began with the corridor noted by the Anoka Conservation District. She stated that some potential next steps for using the NRI would be to use it for shaping the City's future with land use, subdivision design and infrastructure. She noted that this information could also be used by the City zoning and subdivision ordinances. She stated that the City of Chaska took the NRI and used it to develop and plan around the natural areas. Mayor Gamec asked if a tax would be set to protect wetlands and certain natural areas. He asked if this. document would be used as a guide to look at the type of land that the City would want to preserve. City Council Work Session / November 13, 2007 Page 2 of7