Agenda - Council Work Session - 08/13/2013

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I recognize that a number of stakeholders have concerns with the draft rules and we will work to address those concerns as best we can. At the same time we all recognize that there is a range of stakeholders that will be affected by the rules and that it will not be possible to draft a proposal that will please everyone. That is why we intend to take the proposed rules to a public hearing. Ultimately an administrative law judge will make an objective determination on the need and reasonableness of the rules and offer a recommendation on whether to adopt, modify, or drop the rules. Next steps: The current rulemaking process will start in August with individual meetings with each community in the critical area. We will be contacting your staff soon to schedule these meetings, and will send materials ahead of time to help your staff prepare (including an annotated version of the draft rules, draft district maps, and draft bluff maps). The purpose of these meetings is to compare the draft districts, standards, and administrative provisions in the draft rules with those in existing local ordinances, and get input from local governments on how to improve them. We are also interested in feedback on the process and public outreach. Based on discussion at the July 17' meeting, we are adding another meeting with Metro City members to summarize the ideas generated by local governments. The DNR will use this feedback to develop recommendations for revising the draft rules. My team is committed to working with you and other interested parties in an open and transparent process to develop rules as directed by the 2013 Legislature. Our goal is to balance the variety of interests along the corridor to ensure continued protection of this important natural resource. As our key partners in administering these rules, we are especially interested in your advice for developing rules that are practical to administer. I am very interested in seeing this project through to a successful completion and will remain involved. I look forward to continuing the conversation we started last Wednesday. Tom Landwehr, Commissioner Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Take a Child Outdoors Today!