09/10/2001 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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• • • COUNCIL MINUTES JULY 23, 2001 modified to lessen its environmental impacts; such modifications my be imposed as permit conditions by regulatory agencies. The Environmental Quality Board rules assign responsibility for preparing the EAW and determining the need for an EIS to a specific unit of government. The Responsible Governmental Unit (RGU) is generally the unit with the greatest responsibility for approving or supervising the project as a whole. The City of Lino Lakes is the RGU for the Marketplace project. The RGU (City Council) is required to make a decision on the need for an EIS between three (3) working days and thirty (30) days after the comment period ends. The comment period of the Marketplace project ended on July 11, 2001. The purpose of the EAW, comments and comment responses is to provide the record on which the RGU can base a decision about whether an EIS needs to be prepared for a project. EIS need is described in the rules: "An EIS shall be ordered for projects that have the potential for significant environmental effects." In deciding whether a project has the potential for significant environ compare the impacts that may reasonable be expected to occur fro this rule," considering the following factors (part 4410.1700, su al effects, the RGU "shall ect with the criteria in 1. Type, extend, and reversibility of the envir• ; mteA of cts. This deals with the nature and signifi could result from the project. It r augmented by information from )": e environmental effects that will or ectly "n the EAW information and may be ents and responses. 2. Cumulative potential eff- . elate or anticipated future projects. The second criterio o apply in practice often because little is known about other potential tsE less they are also under review at the same time Cumulative i cussed in Item 29 if the EAW. 3. The extent regulatory a nvironmental effects are subject to mitigation by ongoing public This is frequently the main justification for why an EIS is not required. Projects often have impacts that could be significant if not for permit conditions and other aspects of public regulatory authority. 4. The extent to which environmental effects can be anticipated and controlled as a result of other available environmental studies undertaken by public agencies or the project proposer including other Environmental Impact Statements. This criterion enters in only where the same information that would be sought in an EIS already is available through past studies, including other impact statements. 15