1f. Zoning Amendment Section 20-421 Wetland Ordinance that the City has control over Dredging Wetlands in Public Waters wholly within the City CITY OF ............
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1 •`\ ` . 690 COULTER DRIVE • P.O. BOX 147 • CHANHASSEN, MINNESOTA 55317
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MEMORANDUM
ITO: Don Ashworth, City Manager "" "� __
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FROM: Jo Ann Olsen, Asst. City Planner )
IDATE: November 16, 1988 ` `'' GO'"'C'l
II SUBJ: Second and Final Reading for the Zoning Ordinance
Amendment to the Wetland Ordinance
On November 14 , 1988 , the City Council approved the first reading
I of the zoning ordinance amendment to the wetland ordinance which
permits the city jurisdiction over wetlands within public waters
(Attachment #1) . The City Council must now approve second and
Ifinal reading of the ordinance amendment.
RECOMMENDATION
IStaff recommends the City Council adopt the following motion:
"The City Council approves the second and final reading of the
I Zoning Ordinance amending Section 20-1 of the City Code by adding
the following definition:
"Public Waters" : means and shall be limited to the following
waters of the state:
I 1 ) All waterbasins assigned a shoreland management classifi-
cation by the Commissioner of Natural Resources;
II 2 ) All waters of the state which have been finally deter-
mined to be public waters or navigable waters by a court of
competent jurisdiction;
I3 ) All meandered lakes, except for those which have been
legally drained;
II 4 ) All waterbasins previoulsy designated by the Commissioner
of Natural Resources for management for a specific purpose
such as trout lakes and game lakes pursuant to applicable
I law;
5) All waterbasins designated as scientific and natural
iareas;
Mr. Don Ashworth
November 16 , 1988
Page 2
6 ) All waterbasins located within and totally surrounded by '
publicly owned lands;
7 ) All waterbasins where the State of Minnesota or the
federal government holds title to any of the beds or shores,
unless the owner declares that the water is not necessary for
the purposes of the public ownership; '
8 ) All waterbasins where there is publicly owned and
controlled access which is intended to provide for public
access to the waterbasins; and
9 ) All natural and altered natural watercourses with a total
drainage area greater than two (2) square miles, except that
trout streams officially designated by the Commissioner of
Natural Resources shall be public waters regardless of the
size of their drainage area. I
The public character of water shall not be determined
exclusively by the proprietorship of the underlying, or
surrounding land or by whether it is a body or stream of
water which was navigable in fact or susceptible of being
used as a highway for commerce at the time this state was
admitted to the union. '
and approves amending Section 20-421 (11) of the City Code as
follows :
Section 2. Chanhassen City Code Section 20-421 (11) is
amended to read:
Digging, dredging, filling, or in any other way altering a
Class A or B wetland, including but not limited to such
wetlands in public waters lying wholly within the City of
Chanhassen.
ATTACHMENTS
1 . City Council minutes dated November 14 , 1988 .
1
1
City Council Meeting - November 14, 1988
Councilman Johnson: I think that historically the Council and even the last two
years, while I've objected to it several times but historically we've gone ahead
i and said okay, now Don will not sign these until those drawings are on there and
we're assured of that. So I'm going to go ahead and move we approve this with
the assurances that those lines do show up here before Don and the Mayor will
sign this plat. Also, that I'm going to continue my campaign of why is
something simple not done.
Acting Mayor Geving: Okay Jay. I think your motion is an appropriate one.
The condition is that if you comply with the two conditions that staff is asking
for and is there a second to the motion?
' Councilman Horn: Second.
•
Councilman Johnson: Actually there's three conditions.
Acting Mayor Geving: All three conditions will be applied. That will be the
condition on which the approval is based.
Councilman Johnson moved, Councilman Horn seconded eco ded to approve the Final Plat for
Park Day Care Center pursuant to the City Manager's recommendations. All voted
in favor and the motion carried.
Don Ashworth: I'd like to state that I know of no plat that has come through in
the last 5 years or more that has in any way slipped through the cracks where we
have not made sure that all conditions set by City Council have been met. The
issue you refer to as far as the trail easements is an entirely separate issue
than the type of conditions that you have in this particular application.
(I) ZONING ORDINANCE AMENDMENT TO AMEND SECTION 20-421(11) OF THE WETLAND
' ORDINANCE TO CLARIFY THAT THE CITY HAS CONTROL OVER DREDGING WETLANDS IN PUBLIC
WATERS LOCATED IN LAKES WHOLLY WITHIN THE CITY OF CHANHASSEN.
' Councilman Boyt: I've got a question for Jo Ann, since I was unable to reach
you today Jo Ann. Do you know if Rivkin dug his 200 foot canal?
Jo Ann Olsen: I don't know if he has.
Councilman Boyt: Dale, you were absent the night that we had the vote
unfortunately.
' Acting Mayor Geving: This is on the wetland ordinance?
Councilman Boyt: Yes, but the issue came up around Eric Rivking and his desire
to make, gosh it was at least 200 foot long dredged out...
Acting Mayor Geving: I remember it.
Councilman Boyt: Okay, and you and I were opposed to it. Dale, it would turn
out that maybe we were working under some erroneous information the night the
Council passed that since I would gather reading this staff report that the City
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City Council Meeting - November 14, 1988 11
probably had the right to deny that to control that wetland since it was
entirely controlled by the City. I would encourage you, if not this meeting,
possibly next meeting to think about reconsidering that item since you were here
that night.
Acting Mayor Geving: I would be happy to except there's a possibility now that
a number of months have passed since then and the fellow may have already
invested a considerable amount of money. I'd like to know where exactly that
project is.
Councilman Boyt: Well I agree. We do need to know that but maybe you want to
pursue that.
Acting Mayor Geving: I was very irritated by that, by the way Bill, that it
passed but there were only 2 votes for it.
Councilman Boyt: Something that you might want to consider. I hope you do. ,
Then the other thing, Roger and we talked just right before the meeting but
maybe you can fill me in. It seems to me that if we're moving to make certain
we have control over the wetlands, that we should extend that to also the
surface of the lake and I just want to confirm that we do control the surface of
the lake.
Roger Knutson: This particular ordinance that's being amended is a wetland
ordinance so it doesn't address anything else. We have a surface water useage
ordinance which is separate from that wetlands ordinance and we do regulate to
some extent what goes on in the surface waters of all lakes. We could look at
the ordinance to see-what it says as far as what kind of regulations.
Councilman Boyt: Maybe this is an inappropriate time and Dale you tell me and
we can put it up for another meeting, but Roger, we had an issue this past
summer where some people where mooring their boats on a lake when they didn't
own property on the lake. The County was involved in that and the DNR was
involved in that. Everyone but the City was involved in it and are you
suggesting to me that the City in fact has the ultimate control over mooring of
docks and boats in the lake?
Roger Knutson: Yes. Assuming that lake lies entirely within the City of
Chanhassen and assuming that when you amend your ordinance you get DNR approval,
which you're required to do. I
Councilman Boyt: But we already have the ordinance. Are you saying we need to
amend it to gain control over the water surface in that type of surface useage?
Roger Knutson: For certain types of things, yes. Our Surface Water Useage
Ordinance regulates certain things such as docks but did not regulate other
things. If I remember right, that was sent to the Planning Commission for
study. I drafted an ordinance I can't remember, 2 months ago.
Councilman Boyt: Is that in the works Jo Ann?
Jo Ann Olsen: It came back to the City Council and it was given to the Park and
Rec Commission...
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• , City Council Meeting - November 14, 1988
F 1
' Councilman Boyt: Well, I remember that part of it but I don't remember
directing anybody to look at was the City gaining the ability to control the
surface useage on the lakes completely. All the surface useage on the lakes.
Councilman Horn: It was not put in the ordinance. It was a discussion item at
the time and the ordinance that our ordinance was modeled from had that
provision in. It came from White Bear Lake. There the provisions was put in
for commercial dock users to control them. It was not meant as a means to
control the riparian property owners. However, it could be done. It wasn't
felt at that time there was a big enough problem to warren including that in the
ordinance and therefore it hasn't been put in.
Councilman Boyt: Clark, I think I understand what you're saying to me. I'm
just saying that I anticipate that we're going to have to make a decision here
' one of these days about do we allow unattended mooring on lakes. I would like
the City to be moving so that decision is the City's and not the DNR's or the
County's.
' Councilman Johnson: We are working on that.
Councilman Horn: It is the City's. It's included in the ordinance and they
will control it.
Councilman Boyt: It's not in our ordinance now.
' Councilman Horn: It's not in our ordinance now but that would be, as Roger
stated, that would be the place to put it.
' Councilman Johnson: The ordinance has been drafted and it's gone through
Planning. It's now at Park and Rec.
' Councilman Boyt: Different ordinance.
Acting Mayor Geving: Let's stay with the discussion at hand gentlemen. Let's
' stay with the discussion on the zoning ordinance amendment to add to the
wetlands.
Councilman Boyt: I'm comfortable with the way that's being amended. Dale I
' would like you to look into the possibility of...
Acting Mayor Geving: I'd like to have staff do that before the next meeting.
' Councilman Boyt: And I'll move approval of item 1(i) .
Councilman Johnson: Second.
Councilman Boyt moved, Councilman Johnson seconded to approve the Zoning
' Ordinance Amendment to Amend Section 20-421(11) of the Wetland Ordinance to
clarify that the City has control over dredging wetlands in public waters
L located in lakes wholly within the City of Chanhassen. All voted in favor and
the motion carried.
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