Agenda - Planning Commission - 12/03/2015

Home

Regular Planning Commission 5. 1. Meeting Date: 12/03/2015 By: Michael Healy, Community Development Information Title: PUBLIC HEARING: Consider Ordinance #16-1 Establishing an Administrative Grading Permit Purpose/Background: Purpose The purpose of this case is to consider adopting Ordinance #16-1 establishing an Administrative Grading Permit for certain grading activities. Background City Code Section 117-359 (Grading, Mining and Filling Permits) addresses grading activities that excavate 400 or more cubic yards from a site or filling of two (2) feet or greater at any point by requiring an Interim Use Permit (IUP). However, this process is intended for actual mining activities, not grading activities related to improvements of existing uses. On projects requiring Building Permits, the City already reviews grading plans to ensure protective measures are in place to manage stormwater runoff, erosion control, and water quality. City Code does not currently have a requirement for a Grading Permit for alterations if a Building Permit is not required. As the community continues to develop, and statewide stormwater improvements are amended, Staff believes that it is in the public's best interest to introduce a process that not only 'right -sizes' larger grading activities that are not mining operations, but allow the City Engineer the opportunity to review changes in grading patterns to ensure that flooding issues are not created on adjacent properties and that proper erosion control measures are in place to prevent sedimentation from entering into the regional stormwater systems. As it relates to current City Code, an IUP would be required for activities resulting in the import or export of more than 400 cubic yards. However, the required submittal information seems excessive for non -mining operations which involve simply improving an existing lot, but not creating a mining operation. Thus, Staff has drafted Ordinance #16-1 to establish an administrative grading permit that would be applicable to projects disturbing forty (40) or more cubic yards of earth material (approximately equivalent to four [4] dump truck loads) or that would potentially occur within a drainage and utility easement, to ensure that a proposed project would not negatively impact drainage patterns for adjacent properties. Notification: The Notice of Public Hearing was published in the City's official newspaper, the Anoka County UnionHerald. Observations/Alternatives: City Code Section 117-359 (Grading, Mining and Filling Permits) currently regulates grading, mining, and filling by requiring an IUP for any property where these activities will occur. The IUP requirement is intended to regulate mining activities and there are several exceptions to the IUP requirement outlined in Section 117-359 (c). Those exceptions are as follows: 1. Grading can occur without additional permits as part of an approved grading plan in a subdivision plat, site plan, or planned unit development.