INFORMATION #3 03-01-1999 - Laserfiche WebLink

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rei ---'\) ( )j tit{ iNFORMATION Memorandum TO: MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL FROM: DATE: STEPHEN ROHLF MARCH 1, 1999 -SR SUBJECT: LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE ON MINERAL EXCAVATION On March 3, 1999, the City of Elk River has been asked to testify in front the State of Minnesota's "Aggregate Resource Task Force". The task force is considering the affects that gravel mining has on the environment, surrounding properties, transportation, and the economy of the state and will possibly recommend legislative rule changes on how the industry is regulated. The recommendation to have the City of Elk River testify regarding local government's regulation of the gravel industry, comes from the miners themselves. Although staff feels the city is environmentally tough on this industry, apparently the miners feel Elk River is consistent and reasonable. . The city worked with nine different gravel companies in the preparation of a joint voluntary Environmental Impact Statement (ElS) that the miners paid for. The ElS process was completed in May of 1994, after a two year effort. The benefit the city received from this joint effort was a comprehensive review of the environmental, sociological, and economic effects of mining within the city. The benefit to the miners was sharing the cost of the environmental review versus paying for it individually. The real benefit to staff was preparing one ElS instead of several. In addition, the city convinced all of the gravel companies within the city limits to voluntarily submit to the city's conditional use permit process so Elk River had the right to regulate them and add stipulations on how they conduct their operations. To get the miners to cooperate with this additional regulation, a "Mineral Excavation Overlay Zoning District" (ME) was added to the city's ordinances. All of the properties included in the ElS were rezoned to ME. Each individual gravel mine still needs to get a conditional use permit and yearly license, but the ME overlay zone gives some protection to the miner's rights to mine their properties. The ME overlay zone also puts future purchasers of surrounding properties on notice of the intent to mine the properties included. . As far as staff is aware, Elk River's comprehensive approach to the regulation of gravel mining is unique in the state. The Council can be proud of Elk River being used as an example for the rest of the Minnesota. 13065 Orono Parkway · P.O. Box 490 · Elk River, MN 55330. TDD & Phone: (612) 441-7420. Fax: (612) 441-7425