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The 1991 Wetland Conservation Act has significantly changed the <br />rules of development. The primary purpose of the act is to <br />regulate development in a manner that results in no net loss in <br />wetland acreage. This requires urban development to design <br />subdivisions that: 1) avoid wetlands; 2) minimizes impact if some <br />intrusion on a wetland is necessary; and 3) mitigates wetlands that <br />are impacted. <br />Development Densities <br />The aforementioned environmental regulations have significantly <br />reduced the development densities that have occurred in Lino Lakes <br />in the following ways: <br />1. The 1991 Wetland Conservation Act applies to all wetlands. As <br />a result, it has removed development potential from land that <br />may have previously been developed. This reduces the supply <br />of buildable land within a subdivision. <br />2. Subdivisions that must integrate wetlands into the lot layout <br />frequently lose density due to irregular shapes of the wetland <br />resulting in oversized lots. <br />3. The City standard requiring the residential lot areas to be <br />exclusive of water courses mandates larger lots in areas of <br />wetlands, floodplains and environmentally sensitive areas. <br />A survey of ten subdivisions (Table C) developed in accordance with <br />the City regulations and the 1991 Wetland Conservation Act reveals <br />that the residential densities are much lower than the density <br />standards allowed in the base zoning districts. After the <br />consideration of the wetlands as physical constraints, recent <br />subdivisions produced a gross density of 1.4 units per acre and a <br />net density of 2.1 units per buildable acre. <br />8 <br />