5.10. SR 05-08-1995 - Laserfiche WebLink

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.t _. ____ _~_____ _.._ -- .~ Wetlands bill advances- Joel Jamnik The House approved its version of amendments to the Wetland Conserva- tion Act (WCA} 127-4 on Wednesday, April 19. Floor action on the Senate's proposal is expected on Thursday, April 27, but could be delayed. The League supports both bills, H.F.. 787 (Munger, DFL-Duluth) and S.F. 483 (Stumpf, DFL-Thief River Falls). The environmental lobby and state agen- cies find H.F. 787 acceptable but S.F. 483 too broad while the property owners, developers, and some local governments strongly favor the Senate version over the more restrictive House version. Given these differences, S.F. 483 appears to be is a more favorable bill from the operational perspective of city government.. However, from the perspective of protecting wetland resources from public and private draining and filling activities, H.F. 787 is preferable. A compromise is attainable. The League will continue to support passage of amendments to the WCA Issue House Local planning plans as Significant agency Little oversight, allows alternatives to WCA oversight and approval, total exemption by wetland allows function and value type. exemptions Shoreland area wetlands Special rules to protect Special rules would apply wetlands within 300 feet of only within the building river or stream and 1,000 setback area (often as little feet of lakes as 75 feet from lakes) Road construction and Reduces 2:1 mitigation No mitigation required for maintenance exemptions ratio to 1: l any road project. which is exempted from federal. wetlands rules Defense :and State may assume State assumes. indemnification for local responsibility after responsibility governments which are appropriations process is sued for "takings" because followed of state WCA and will focus our efforts on the defense and indemnification provi- sions to ensure that they adequately protect city governments from liability arising from a state law. ~ Senate Changes proposed in SAW and EIS rules Joel Jamnik City officials have until May 10 to review and comment on proposed amendments to state rules governing the Environmental Review Program. The program is the system of environ- mental assessment worksheets (EAW's) and environmental impact statements (EIS) that must be applied to various land use or public project proposals. The amendments address: • Revision of the criteria for assigning petitions for EAW's to units of government; • Revisions to the contents and. preparation procedures for EAW's; • Clarification of the criteria by which it is determined that an EIS is needed; • Clarification of which impacts and alternatives must be addressed in an EIS and in what level of detail, including treatment of unavailable information; • Modification of the procedures for terminating an EIS process; • Modification of the way of applying EAW and EIS mandatory category thresholds to existing stages of certain projects; • Modification of the mandatory EAW and EIS and Exemption catego- ries for certain types of projects including industrial, commercial, and institutional facilities, air pollutant sources, solid waste facilities, waste- water systems, residential projects, recreational projects, airport projects, water appropriations and impound- ments, marinas, stream diversions, projects impacting wetlands, agrieul- tore, and forestry; projects destroying historic .places, and communications towers; • Establishment of a mandatory EIS category for certain PCB incinera- tion activities; • Revision of the time period for filing legal appeals of decisions that EAW's and EIS's are or are not needed; and • Revision of the procedures for assessing EIS casts to the project proposer. These rules will have a significant impact on developing cities and cities which undertake large projects. We encourage city planning officials to review the. proposah To obtain the: proposal or additional information, contact Gregg Dawning at the Envi- ronmental Quality Board at (612) 296- 2603, FAX (612) 296-3698. ~ April 28, 1995 L-,rh C C.+~~ e5 ~K lrol~~l~ Page 5 ~.