Laserfiche WebLink
provide a procedure that is not consistent, such as indicating no Comprehensive Plan can be <br />adopted or approved by the Council but only initiated and enacted by the voters. He stated that <br />this would not be a reasonable interpretation of what that means and Section 13.1.3 falls on the <br />side of what is not permissible since it changes the decision makers in not allowing the Council <br />to make a change to the Comprehensive Plan without ratification by the voters. <br /> <br />Mr. LeFevere stated it is difficult to determine how a question can be presented to the residents <br />and include all of the information that needs to be included in that decision-making process such <br />as what happened at the public hearing on that Guide Plan amendment. <br /> <br />Councilmember Haas Steffen asked if the powers part of what we are talking about deals with <br />powers the Legislature gave to the Metropolitan Council. She stated that if you listen to the <br />discussions going on today with regard to whether they should be elected or appointed and what <br />kind of powers they should have, there are very few voices saying they should not have <br />jurisdiction in the matter of the sewer. Councilmember Haas Steffen stated that it seems to her <br />that issue would have some bearing on how Mr. LeFevere came to the conclusion that he did in <br />this case. <br /> <br />Mr. LeFevere stated that it does, although he did put the Metropolitan Council role aside in the <br />interest of interpreting this ordinance in a way that would give it some meaning. He stated the <br />first thing that comes to mind is that the MUSA line does not belong to the City and the <br />Metropolitan Council has the authority to make that decision. If they decided to make a change <br />in Ramsey, the City would have nothing to say about it so it can be said that this whole provision <br />makes no sense since the MUSA is not the City's to change or not to change. But, since the <br />practice of the Metropolitan Council is to wait for the city to come in with a Comprehensive Plan <br />amendment, then it can be interpreted as describing that Act. It is only because the Metropolitan <br />Council interprets it that way that this section makes any sense at all because the Metropolitan <br />Council will not change the MUSA line until the Council approves a Comprehensive Plan <br />amendment and makes that request. <br /> <br />Councilmember Haas Steffen stated there is no case history to contradict the Attorney's <br />statement. She noted that when she attended the Sensible Land Coalition meeting, the <br />Metropolitan Council representative spoke about the fact that the metro government had invested <br />a great deal of money in the infrastructure and in order for it to pay for itself it has to get a <br />maximum amount of use. Councilmember Haas Steffen stated there has been no case where a <br />city has said they were not going to develop anymore and the Metropolitan Council tried to use <br />its authority to force development by extending the MUSA line. <br /> <br />Mr. LeFevere stated that this is correct and there has always been more demand for sewer service <br />than the Metropolitan Council has been prepared to provide. So they have no shortage of cities <br />requesting sewer capacity and expansion of the MUSA line. For that reason, it may be fortuitous <br />the Metropolitan Council never took the step to force sewer capacity on a city. However, they <br />could take that direction to maximize the use of their system and assure the development of the <br />metro area as they envision. <br /> <br />City Council/June 9, 1998 <br />Page 16 of 27 <br /> <br /> <br />