6 PCSR 01-26-1993 - Laserfiche WebLink

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One of the goals of the Comprehensive Plan for the City of Elk River is to develop, preserve, and protect environmental resources within the City. These resources include wetlands, open space, water and air quality, and natural ecosystems . • Policies outlined in the Comprehensive Plan include restricting development of wetlands, the removal of natural vegetation, and alteration of contours and soils . These policies can be found on page VII-2 of the Growth Management Plan. CONSISTENCY Recently, Jerry Smith removed 39,000 cubic yards of dirt from the Deerfield III Subdivision. This caused much concern to the residents of the area due to erosion and increased traffic . The Shoemaker request involves nearly the same amount of material in a residential area. The ordinance regarding mineral excavation has been amended since Mr. Smith's activity and certain types of excavation are now allowed in residential zones through the conditional use permit process . However, staff feels this amount of fill being removed and transported through a residential area along with the traffic, noise, and other affects of the operation are too great for a City sewered residential area. Staff has received many requests to alter wetlands . A policy or position should be established as to whether the City supports this concept or if certain wetlands should be protected from alteration. CONDITIONAL USE PERMIT STANDARDS • Conditional use permit requests should be measured against the seven standards as outlined in Section 900 .42 of the Elk River City Code. Subparagraph 1 : Staff believes the use will detrimentally affect the use and enjoyment of other property in the immediate vicinity. Staff bases this finding on the increase in traffic, noise, and the inconvenience of having 3, 125 additional large trucks driving through an already busy residential subdivision. Subparagraph 2 : Based on the goals and policies outlined in the Comprehensive Plan under Section VII which seeks to preserve and protect environmental resources, staff does not feel this request is consistent with the Comprehensive Plan. Subparagraph 3 : Staff feels the request basically meets Standard 3 regarding the normal and orderly development of surrounding vacant properties . Once completed, the proposed pond should not negatively affect surrounding development. Subparagraph 4 : Staff believes the use will adversely • affect public facilities (such as streets) due to the amount of truck traffic created by the use. This use will