5.2.-5.4. PCSR 09-13-2011 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Rebecca Haug City of Elk River August 18, 2011 Page 4 possible. The existing vegetation and land surface between the southern toe of the landfill berm and 221St Street will remain as is until and/or if it is mined. As far as the phasing of the vegetation establishment on the west and south buffer property, in general, in addition to the vegetation previously proposed, we will vegetate the lower 10 feet of the 3 :1 berm with a loose density of evergreen trees. Interspersed with the evergreens, the ERL will place a faster growing native specie of tree, such as poplar. Native hardwoods, such as maples and oak trees, will be placed along the existing roadway near the trail where the native soils have not been disturbed. This variety of evergreen, fast growing and native hardwoods trees will be the most visible and provide the best screening from the trail. The phasing of the vegetation is shown in Attachment 3, but generally follows the three phases as outlined below: Phase 1: Will coincide with construction of the berm for Cell 18 along the trail on the west and Hwy 169 on the east side. Vegetation will be established on the 3:1 slopes as described above, which will run from approximately the current property line and extent to the north to tie-in with the existing vegetation. On the west side, this would include establishing vegetation north up to and around the existing/expanded sedimentation pond. Phase 2: Will coincide with the construction of the remaining berms on the east and west side, and establish vegetation as described above from the approximate proposed property line to tie in with the vegetation that was established in Phase 1. This will be done in approximately 2 phases to coincide with the construction of Cell 19 and the base of Ce1120. Phase 3: Will coincide with the construction of the southern slope of Ce1120, and establish the vegetation on the 3 :1 slopes on the south side of the perimeter berm. 8. A mining access road with a width of 36 feet is shown within the west buffer area. This is connected to an existing access road which is approximately 20 feet in width: The City will require that the new mining road width be reduced to 20 feet to correspond to the connecting access road, and to preserve more of the existing vegetation. Response: The proposed expansion design consolidated two roadways into one along the west boundary. The elimination of one road helps to preserve the native screening and minimize soil disturbances. Although the access road can not have the reduced width that the City requested, the ERL has developed an alternative access road design that re-locates the access road to further north on the existing ERL property and provides a more stable 3:1 berm that would be capable of sustaining several varieties of screening vegetation. The alternative proposed access road alignment is shown in Attachment 3. 9. The plans show portions of the buffer area grading slope at a 2:1 ratio in the vicinity of Cell 18. This helps to reduce the extent of grading. To preserve more of the existing vegetation, the City will require that these 2:1 slopes also be used in the Cell 18-Cell 20 west buffer areas where 3:1 slopes are shown on the Plans. Appropriate erosion control protection will be required for all buffer area slopes. Response: We believe that 2:1 slopes will not sustain trees and that it is difficult to sustain even dense groundcover vegetation (grasses). Two transitional areas for the SDA show a 2:1 slope where tie-ins to existing conditions had to be made. All other slopes in the expansion and shown on the Agreement documents are designed to be a minimum of 3:1. Erosion control protection on any slope less than a 3:1 T:\07420406UunellCityApp\Comment rosponse\Response_08181 I\LRH_080411MtgResponse_OSI811.docx