Agenda - Council Work Session - 06/01/2010

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6 .- CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION Topic Report: Update on Lower Rum River WMO 3rd Generation Plan By: Steven Jankowski, Assistant City Engineer and Chris Anderson, Environmental Coordinator Background: The LRRWMO is in the process of updating its third generation plan to guide its activities for the next ten (10) years. At a work session held on September 1,2009, Staff presented a draft of this plan to the City Council along with a table comparing the current plan and proposed third generation plan draft. This comparison also included the City's Comprehensive Storm Water Plan. That draft received a preliminary review by agencies which included the Board of Soil and Water Resources (BWSR), the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA), Metropolitan Council, and Department of Natural Resources (DNR). The preliminary comments received in December by these agencies held the common theme that the draft plan lacked specificity in goals and policies. These reviews were also critical of the organization of the report, citing that standards and the requirements for implementing standards were scattered throughout the plan and occasionally were in conflict. In view of these preliminary agency comments, the Board of the LRRWMO decided to reformat the plan to be consistent with a similar plan recently approved by BWSR. As a result, the latest draft, dated March 2010, appears significantly different than that reviewed last September; however, its contents were intended to be the same as the previous draft. This revised draft plan was posted on the City's FTP site and discussed at a Council Work session on March 30, 2010. Staff has reviewed this new draft plan to assure that the issues that the City Council had commented on last fall have been satisfactorily transitioned into this newly formatted draft. Staff has modified the format of the comparison table presented to the Council last September by adding a column on the right which addresses how each item that warranted a comment in the earlier review has been addressed within the current March 2010 draft. Staff has also prepared a draft review letter to the LRRWMO suggesting modifications recommended for the [mal plan document. It should be noted that the draft plan still references wetland buffers in several areas and that this is the primary focus Staff s review letter and recommendations. Several watershed issues identified in the previous draft have been selected to receive a more comprehensive development as a part of the new plans implementation. It is anticipated that discussion of these issues will include input from a Technical Advisory Committee. This committee, which remains to be established, might consist of representatives from the Soil Conservation Districts, the County Highway Department, DNR, Metropolitan Council, and City Engineers. In addition, elected officials, environmental and development interest groups could also be included to add perspective to this group. The issues to be addressed include: