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SWCD and other agencies.As the LGU,the City has the capability to do so, and also the latitude to be more restrictive or require other permits if they deem it necessary. In being more restrictive, the City can require a permit, set wetlands setbacks, or prohibit wetland fill of this type altogether. Should the Planning Commission choose to require a permit for this type of wetland activity,the City could pursue processing the permits in two ways. One would be to take on training a staff member in wetland delineation in order that the staff would be capable of making such determinations in the field for these permits. The Board of Water & Soils Resources offers wetland delineation training each year. The other option would be to complete an agreement with the SWCD staff to perform the onsite determinations. Because we do not anticipate a large number of requests for this type of activity,the Staff would recommend using the second option should the City choose to require permits. In the previous meeting, the Planning Commission had questions regarding what it would take to assume wetland permitting authority. It is the Staff s opinion that, at this time, it would not be necessary for the City to entirely assume this authority. The working relationship that the City has with the SWCD ensures that wetland review is done by experts in the field and does not cost the City for Staff training. The Staff recommends that the City be more restrictive than the current regulations by requiring a variance for all wetland fill projects, regardless of whether they require a permit by WCA statutes. As the process currently works, when a property owner in the City applies for a wetland fill permit through the SWCD, a Technical Evaluation Panel is convened. Sitting on the panel are representatives from the SWCD, the DNR, the Army Corps of Engineers if needed, and the City of Pequot Lakes, along with any other representatives that may have jurisdiction over the property. The Panel then reviews the application, using the following steps in determining whether to approve the application and what mitigation efforts are required,if any: 1. Avoidance — Pre-application meeting would be highly recommended to work with the applicant to avoid wetland grading or filling altogether.Avoiding wetland impacts would be the first priority in any project. 2. Minimization—If it has been agreed that avoidance cannot be achieved,wetland impacts should be minimized. This can be achieved through the appropriate placement of the project,reducing the size of a project,or changing the design for the project. 3. Mitigation/Replacement— If avoidance cannot be achieved, replacement and mitigation efforts are required along with minimization. Replacement can be done through purchase in a wetlands bank, creating a new wetland elsewhere, or making payment to the local water protection program,for example. The SWCD has also made it a practice to use the Cass County Wetland Functional Analysis Model in their Wetland Ordinance, which contains specific guidelines for determining the impacts of the proposed wetland fill, and from there determining required minimization and mitigation efforts.A copy of this has been included in this report. Once the Technical Evaluation Panel (TEP) has completed review of the application, they then forward the recommendation to the City. From there the City can decide whether to accept the TEP's recommendation or to be more restrictive than the recommendation. If the City required all wetland fill to obtain a variance,then prior to the public hearing at the Planning Commission for the variance process, the TEP would review and forward recommendation the Planning Commission. At the public hearing, then, the Planning Commission would have the full review of the TEP with their recommendation.The Planning Commission would then apply the criteria pertaining to variances and determine whether there is a hardship on the property that would City of Pequot Lakes Staff Report 11-2 August 17,2006