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STAFF REPORT <br /> Item: Wetland Fill Permitting <br /> Background: As stated in previous staff reports, the Staff has been involved with a potential <br /> request to fill wetlands on a property in order to provide access. Usually, the request would fall <br /> to the local permitting agency, namely the Soil and Water Conservation District. However, in <br /> this case and cases like it,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 /> 1. 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. 5,000 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 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(1)to(3)outside of shoreland <br /> wetland protection zones in all counties;or <br /> 5• 400 square feet of type 1, 2, 3, 4, 51 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 1,00o 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 sub item, 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 the exemption discussed herein, those permitting <br /> agencies do not 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 11-1 <br /> August 17,2006 <br />