Consider Response to November Draft Rules for the Mississippi River Corridor Critical Area (MRCCA)

The 2009, Minnesota Legislature directed the DNR to establish rules for (Laws 2009, Chapter 172, Article 2, Section 5(e) and Section 27) for the Mississippi River Corridor Critical Area (MRCCA). The Legislation revised portions of Chapter 116G, and specified that rulemaking must commence by January 15, 2010 and include 30 day advance notification to local government units (counties, cities, townships, etc.) within the MRCCA.

The City has included information regarding the rulemaking project in the latest version of the Ramsey Resident to keep residents informed of the project in addition to setting up a project webpage on the City's website.

Staff has reviewed the latest draft of the Mississippi River Corridor Critical Area (MRCCA) Rules dated November, 2010.  The DNR has incorporated many of the City's requests, especially related to land use designations.  Staff would like to recommend several responses to the latest draft for consideration as outlined in the attached letter.

 

Staff would like to continue to support the tiered land use approach, as it loosens regulations on non-riparian lots.  Staff continues to have concern with the disparity between CA-2 (rural density) and CA-3 (suburban density) land use designations.  Staff feels this may have an impact to the City's approved Future Land Use Map in the 2030 Comprehensive Plan.  Staff has been in continued contact with the Metropolitan Council as to our recommendations for the draft rules and impacts to the Comprehensive Plan.

 

Finally, Staff has great concern with the latest revision that identifies the Rum River as a tributary of the Mississippi River, and thus extends these regulations to this body of water as well.  The Rum River is not encumbered by the MRCCA Boundary in Ramsey, so it appears this this standard would not apply to Ramsey.  However, the City has continually expressed dissatisfaction with overlapping regulations and would want to support those communities that may be affected by additional overlap, such as the City of Anoka.

 

A Northwest Working Group meeting is scheduled for December 2nd.  Staff would like to provide the attached letter in advance of the meeting for consideration.

Staff recommends directing staff to submit the attached letter to the DNR MRCCA Rulemaking Project.

Motion to direct staff to submit the attached letter of the DNR MRCCA rulemaking project.