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Minnesota Pollution Control Agency 520 Lafayette Road North 1 St. Paul, MN 55155 -4194 1 651 - 296 -6300 11- 800 - 657 -3864 I 651 - 282 -5332 TTY 1 www.pca.state.mn.us November 6, 2008 City of Ramsey Ramsey Planning Commission 7550 Sunwood Drive NW Ramsey, MN 55303 RE: Draft 2008 Comprehensive Plan— Comments Dear Planning Commissioners: This letter is the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency's (MPCA) comments to the city of Ramsey draft 2008 Comprehensive Plan (Plan). The comments contained in this letter are for Chapter V. LAND USE, of the Plan. The MPCA. owns the Anoka/Ramsey Landfill (Landfill) and additional parcels on both east and west sides of the Landfill. On May 19, 2008, an educational PowerPoint presentation was provided to several City staff, including Kurt Ulrich and Amber Miller. A key point in this presentation was "Minnesota Statue Subd. 9. Land management plans. The commissioner shall develop a land use plan for each qualified facility. All local land use plans must be consistent with a land use plan developed under this subdivision." (enclosure). A draft view of the . "Qualified Facility" was presented at the May 19 meeting (enclosure). This is a draft and will likely be redefined within a few months to encompass additional parcels the MPCA owns. Given our present vision for Land Use Plans (LUP) at closed landfills, the MPCA anticipates requesting the city of Ramsey implement a new zoning ordinance: Closed Landfill Restricted (CLR). A draft CLR was also presented at the May meeting, and an example is enclosed. Therefore, the Plan is not consistent with the MPCA's anticipated LUP for the Qualified Facility. Based on Figure V -2 Future Land Use Map, it appears that your Plan identifies four zoning districts within the Qualified Facility that are not currently realistic given human health & safety concems and the State's response action activities at the Landfill. These activities include operation and maintenance of the remediation system, sampling and analytical, mowing, etc. which cost the MPCA an estimated $500,000 per year. We have projected future expenditures for upgrading the remediation system and being actively involved with the remediation at the Landfill for the next 30 -40 years. Therefore, the MPCA's comments on the four zoning districts, along with the understanding that the Plan is for a 30 -year period, are as follows: 1. The Plan identifies the landfill/waste area as a Park (active and passive recreational land). At this time, the MPCA does not believe the landfill/waste area will be available for a Park purpose within thirty years (reasons stated in above paragraph). • St.Paul I Brainerd Detroit Lakes 1 Duluth 1 Mankato 1 Marshall I Rochester [ Willmar 1 Printed on 100% post- consumer recycled paper —277—