PCAgenda_07Aug28 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

~ ENVIRONMENTAL ACTION ELEMENT NATURAL AND HISTORIC RESOURCES Plan Elements Natural Resources The City of Falcon Heights has no lakes, streams or protected wetlands and only a relatively few manmade ponding areas, may of which are located on University owned lands. It has no woodlots other than residential street trees and it has relatively little topographic relief. This is not to say that the City is devoid of character, only that its most significant resources are not water based thus requiring considerably less regulation. The City also has virtually no privately owned vacant land to accommodate development. Historic and cultural resources The City's most important and meaningful resources are manmade or man-shaped and they include huge expanses of permanent open space, wooded residential areas with tree lined streets and historical sites as manifested in the Gibbs Farm, the Gibbs schoolhouse and the University of Minnesota agricultural research lands. In addition to historic structures on the grounds of its large public institutions, the City is home to a number of architecturally significant structures, most notably the T.I.E.S. building at the southwest corner of Snelling and Larpenteur. The unique University Grove neighborhood between Cleveland and Fulham is a district of individually built architect-designed homes constructed from the 1920s through the 1970s for the use of University faculty and staff. Environmental Protection Objectives 1. To conserve unique and essential natural resources. 2. To protect people and property from excessive noise, pollution and natural hazard. Environmental Protection Policies 1. Minimize runoff velocities from newly developed sites. 2. Require stormwater management and erosion control plans for all new developments. 3. Encourage retention of precipitation as practicable by providing additional storage either on-site or through the construction of a comprehensive retention area with new development or redevelopment. 4. Encourage the removal and replacement of diseased trees on street rights-of--way. 5. Identify and encourage preservation of trees in excess of 50 years old, v~henever possible. 6. Maintain wildlife populations. 7. Monitor air quality at Snelling/Larpenteur Avenues and upgrade the inter-section to • assure that ambient pollution levels are not substantially increased. Assembled Elements, Draft 1 FH Comp Plan 2007 Page 39 of 42