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STAFF REPORT
<br /> Item: Wetland Fill Permitting
<br /> Background: Recently, Staff has been involved with a potential request to fill wetlands on a
<br /> property in older to provide access. Usually, the request would fall to the local permitting
<br /> agency,namely the Soil and Water Conservation District. However,in this case and cases like it,
<br /> the SWCD does not require a permit.
<br /> To explain, a wetlands fill permit is not required if the project falls under the De minimis
<br /> exemption of the Wetland Conservation Act which includes the following:
<br /> A. Except as provided in items B and C, a replacement plan for wetlands is not required for
<br /> draining,excavating,or filling the following amounts of wetlands:
<br /> i. io,000 square feet of type 1, 2, 6,or 7 wetland,excluding white cedar and tamarack
<br /> wetlands, outside of the shoreland wetland protection zone and that are not fringe
<br /> areas of type 3,4,or 5 wetlands in a greater than 8o percent area*
<br /> 2. 5,00o square feet of type 1, 2, 6, or 7 wetland, excluding white cedar and tamarack
<br /> wetlands, outside of the shoreland wetland protection zone and that are not fringe
<br /> areas of type 3,4,or 5 wetlands in a 50 to 8o percent area;
<br /> 3. 2,000 square feet of type 1, 2, or 6 wetland, outside of a shoreland wetland
<br /> protection zone and that are not fringe areas of type 3,4,or 5 wetlands in a less than
<br /> 50 percent area;
<br /> 4• 400 square feet of wetland types not listed in subitems(i)to(3)outside of shoreland
<br /> wetland protection zones in all counties;or
<br /> 5• 400 square feet of type 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, or 8 wetland, in the shoreland wetland
<br /> protection zone, except that in a greater than 8o percent area,the local government
<br /> unit may increase the de minimis amount up to 1,000 square feet in the shoreland
<br /> wetland protection zone in areas beyond the building setback if the wetland is not a
<br /> type 3, 4, or 5 wetland, is isolated, and is determined to have no direct surficial
<br /> connection to a public water. To the extent that a local shoreland management
<br /> ordinance is more restrictive than this subitem, the local shoreland ordinance
<br /> applies.
<br /> B. The amounts listed in item A may not be combined on a project.
<br /> C. This exemption no longer applies to a landowner's portion of a wetland when the
<br /> proposed project impact area and the cumulative area of the landowner's portion
<br /> drained,excavated,or filled since January 1, 1992,is the greater of:
<br /> 1. the applicable areas listed in item A,if the landowner owns the entire wetland;
<br /> 2. five percent of the landowner's portion of the wetland;or
<br /> 3• 400 square feet.
<br /> D. This exemption may not be combined with another exemption on a project.
<br /> E. For the purposes of this subpart, for wetlands greater than 4o acres, the wetland type
<br /> may be determined to be the wetland type with the deepest water regime with the
<br /> wetland and within 300 feet of the impact.
<br /> As it is currently written, Sec. 7.13, Subd.3 of the City's Land Use Ordinance specifically
<br /> prohibits any grading or filling in any protected wetland unless authorized by federal, state,
<br /> county, and local permitting agencies. Under this exemption, those permitting agencies do not
<br /> require a permit.
<br /> The City of Pequot Lakes is the Local Government Unit and has the authority to administer the
<br /> provisions of the Wetland Conservation Act, but has passed on the permitting process to the
<br /> City of Pequot Lakes Staff Report 13-1
<br /> May 18,2Oo6
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