5.4. SR 05-17-2010 - Laserfiche WebLink

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amend its conditional use permit, staff also sent a letter to the Landfill on that date notifying them of the proposed ordinance amendments. Application of the Proposed Ordinance Amendments to the Landfill's Pending Application The Planning Commission also inquired as to whether the proposed ordinance amendments would apply to the Landfill's pending application to amend its CUP and License to expand into the 200-foot buffer area. As was explained to the Planning Commission, the City has the right to apply the ordinances in effect at the time it acts on an application for approval, and is not obligated to apply the ordinances as they were in effect when the application was made. This is a principle of law which I am very familiar with, but in light of the litigation I also consulted with the City's litigation counsel, John Baker. John confirmed my analysis and provided me with an outline entitled "Vested Rights Law in Minnesota," which he has prepared and assigns his students to read when teaching land use law at the William Mitchell College of Law. A copy of this outline is attached. Section I (on pages 1 to 6) is most relevant. In this instance, the proposed ordinance amendments do not add a requirement that all components of a Solid Waste Facility be located in the Solid Waste Facility District. The ordinance has always required that. The proposed ordinance amendment reaffirms what the ordinance currently requires. However, even if the Ordinance Amendment can be characterized as a change, the City has the right to make such a change to its City Code. Finally, as we explained to the Landfill in our February 2, 2010 letter advising them of the proposed ordinance amendments, and to the Planning Commission, the proposed ordinance amendments, if adopted, will not stop the Landfill's pending application to expand. That application will continue to be processed and is currently scheduled to be heard before the Planning Commission and City Council at their April 13 and April 19 meetings. Landfill Components The Landfill, in comments to the Planning Commission and in their March 9, 2010 letter to the Planning Commission, has stated that the current ordinances do not require that all components of the Landfill be located within the Solid Waste Facility District, because the City has approved monitoring wells located outside of the District. It is true that there are a number of monitoring wells located off of the Landfill site and outside of the Solid Waste Facility District. The purpose of these monitoring wells is to identify and monitor offsite impacts of the Landfill on groundwater. By definition, these wells cannot be located onfite. Their purpose is to identify offsite impacts. Therefore, the fact that they are not within the Solid Waste Facility District merely reflects their purpose, and does not mean that all other components of the Landfill, including waste disposal areas, gas wells, service roads, buildings and other infrastructure, are not required to be on landfill property and within the Solid Waste Facility District. 2