6.1. SR 02-01-1993 - Laserfiche WebLink

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. ~ . f ~"._ "__"n, _. ,I ;"1. t, ~, t" j i ,. ,.;.l~',( ~ ' ", !fI'; . "'~~''-. I': i ~, .,t' ,: ':t., ../"/ i.~r ;- ~'"~!' .~;~~ "'. .a. ""~- _ - t" '..' . ~ ; ':.........':...'J ~.~r~ . L I :t.%'T'....,._ ~,:f:.;': . I" Staff Photo by John Croft Some wetlands were filled in to make way for the new Wal-Mart store in Fridley. . Last year. for example, the Anoka Conservation District gave Gerald and Marge Sygulla permission to build a 300-foot driveway through a wetland to their new home in Colum- bus Township - provided the drive- way was onlv 24 feet wide. "I'm dri~ing by later. and instead of a driveway. he's got a runway through it:' savs the conservation district's Chris Lord. The Sygullas complain that the township is against develop- ment and that the wetlands laws are too rigid. Before long, six conservation officers were involved. Old aerial photos were studied to trv to determine the wetlands' originaI"boundary. When Woods told them to stay otTthe propeny. the county attorney was asked for a legal opinion on whether conseJ'"\'ation officials could go and inspect the damage. Making matters more complicated. the suspected wet- land was a unique variety that loqked more like a forest than a wetland. . . Larger homebuilders are even more frustrated. "A l2-by-12 [foot) puddle of water with a little bit of canary gras,s around it . . . is not wonh [pro- tecting):' Anoka County builder Phil Tetrault said. "It'U dry up anyway.:' Eyen the smallest cases can have ., unheard-of complications. In 1991, Charles Mears wanted to dig out a' pond on his propeny and stock it . with trout. He got an agreement from a neighbor to pUT pan of the din on her propeny to t:reate a berm. But when she began divorce proceedings, her husband, Michael Woods, said the agreement was void and drove'a bulldozer through the berm. .' Woods' bulldozer also cut through' what officials suspected was a . " wetland. " The case finally ended a few months ago with Woods being ordered to ' remove a single pile of brush. "The. area atTected here is a few hund'red square feet," said John Raetz, Woods' attorney. ..It's not that much." As the new state law takes hold. it's' getter harder to find supponers of . saving every wetland in Anoka . County. "A tiny. tiny wetland. . .~ doesn't make any sense to preserve:' said Ron Henrickson, Blaine's plan-. ning and economic development director. Henrickson has an allv in Gilben Menkveld, the develoPer in Ramsey' who in the end reworked his new'" subdivision to accommodate wet- . lands when nearby residents com- ,,' plained. "Actually," said Menkveld: "they're overdoing the wetlands deal where we are - they're so ,- unreasonable." .. .