Agenda - Parks and Recreation Commission - 04/09/2015

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CLOSED LANDFILL USE PLAN ANOKA-RAMSEY LANDFILL INTRODUCTION In 1994, the Minnesota Legislature adopted the Landfill Cleanup Act (LCA) (Minn. Stat. 115B.39 - 115B.45) which created the Closed Landfill Program (CLP). Under the CLP, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) is responsible for the cleanup and long term care of 112 closed, municipal, solid waste landfills throughout the State. The mission of the CLP is to manage the risk to public health and the environment that is associated with these landfills. Landfill gas migration and groundwater contamination can be serious issues at some landfills. These problems can pose a threat to the health and safety of those living or occupying land nearby. In addition, chemicals leaching from landfills can degrade groundwater and surface water resources surrounding them. The MPCA addresses the risk to public health and the environment at the closed landfills by undertaking cleanup actions, operating and maintaining remediation systems (engineered covers, gas -collection and groundwater -treatment systems) and by monitoring groundwater, surface water, and landfill gas. The risk to public health and safety is also mitigated by implementing land -use controls that minimize public exposure to landfill hazards and protect the state's response action equipment. In other words, future use of land at and around closed landfills needs to be planned carefully and responsibly. Minnesota Statutes 1156.412, Subd. 9 of the LCA requires the MPCA to develop a Land Use Plan for each of these landfills and for local government units (LGUs) to make their local land use plans consistent with the MPCA's plan for the site. Minnesota Statutes 1156.412, Subd. 4 requires the MPCA to provide LGUs certain information about the landfill and to incorporate this information in to their local land use planning. These statutes are provided in Appendix A. The MPCA considers these statutory requirements, when put together, as a Closed Landfill Use Plan (CLUP). The purpose, then, for preparing a CLUP for each landfill is to: • protect the integrity of the landfill's remediation and monitoring systems; • protect human health and public safety at each landfill; and • accommodate local government needs and desires for land use at the qualified facility with consideration for health and safety requirements. To meet the requirements of subdivision 9 of the statute, LGUs that have land -use authority must make their land -use plans for the landfill consistent with the MPCA's plan for future use of, and obligations for, the facility. One way to accomplish this is for LGUs to make certain that their land -use designations and/or zoning ordinances are compatible with the MPCA's future responsibilities and uses for the Land Management Area. To meet the requirements of subdivision 4 of the statute, LGUs must consider the information about the landfill's contamination and methane gas migration in its land -use planning and also make this information available to those that want to develop the affected property. Also, LGUs may wish to adopt certain land -use controls in order to better protect public health and safety. 1