PRSR 04-09-2003 ATTACHMENTS - Laserfiche WebLink

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Draft Land Use Plan-March 27, 2003 where a certain public objective is desired, such as preserving a trail corridor, protecting a mature stand of trees or maintaining a rural character. Despite limitations on the ability to provide incentives, other approaches can be used to achieve public objectives and a proper balance between property rights and the broader public objective. These approaches include: 1. All preliminary plats shall include a Resource Inventory as described in the OSP regulations. The Inventory provides information needed to evaluate options for public actions related to natural features. 2. The required park dedication would be made in land, as opposed to a fee in lieu of land dedication. The dedicated land area would consist of woodlands, vegetated corridors, open space and other significant natural features that provide public benefit. 3. Developers could be required to allow the City opportunity to acquire additional natural feature areas and land needed to provide trail and greenway linkages. 4. Subdivision regulations could be modified to require increased set backs from Collector and Arterial streets help to maintain a rural appearance. 5. The regulations could also require neighborhood street systems that reduce the number of private drive access points and make use of trails. The Open Space Preservation Plat regulations could be modified to increase or expand the density bonuses. This change would provide an economic incentive to use this approach. These regulations give the City more tools for structuring development around natural features and systems. Sewer Capacity Sewage treatment capacity is an important factor in planning for the future of Elk River. The City's waste water treatment plant currently processes an average flow of 1.1 million gallons per day (MGD). Under current treatment standards, the plant has a total capacity of approximately 3 million gallons per day. Improvements to the existing plant and additional equipment will be needed to reach this capacity. More extensive improvements, including the acquisition of additional land for a new treatment plant, will be needed to provide additional sanitary sewer capacity. On the surface 1.9 MGD of capacity (the difference between current usage and plant capacity) does not appear to be a constraint to growth. However, if all vacant land within the current Urban Service Boundary develops according to the proposed Land Use Plan, this development will use likely use the remaining plant capacity without extending the existing urban service boundary. These estimates assume that current use trends continue and no significant sewer user is added to the system. Two growth issues will compete for the remaining capacity (or the ability to build additional capacity): additional residential growth in the Medium Density Residential use area and potential 5