08/28/2006 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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I. Introduction In April 2005, Integra Homes, Inc. retained Critical Connections Ecological Services, Inc. (CCES) to conduct a natural resources inventory and assessment, to identify priority conservation areas, and to develop a natural resources restoration and management plan for potential conservation areas associated with The Preserve Conservation Development within the City of Lino Lakes, Minnesota. The 52.5 -acre residential conservation development is located south of Birch Street and west of Holly Drive W in the southeastern corner of Lino Lakes (Figure 1). One lot has been set aside for a future City well facility (Outlot A). Of the 52.5 acres, approximately 41.8 acres have been set aside in three conservation outlots (Outlots B, C, and D) and within conservation easements in rear residential lots. Outlots B and C comprise 11.9 acres, and will be placed within permanent conservation easements, and will be restored and managed in years one through three with resources dedicated by the land developer. Additional restoration and management resources for the remaining conservation areas (Outlot D, 29.9 acres) will need to be obtained by the City and/or Home Owner's Association to implement restoration and management of Outlot D in the future. Furthermore, a public pedestrian trail and boardwalks have been planned within portions of the conservation areas and along the residential streetscape, and will serve to connect existing and proposed regional trail systems within the City of Lino Lakes and the greater Rice Creek Chain of Lakes regional open space. The residential development consists of thirty (30) single family residential lots and narrowed residential streets that have been designed to cluster housing, reduce overall impervious surfaces, minimize stormwater runoff and maintain site hydrology, and restore and preserve existing natural areas within the development in the form of permanently protected and managed outlots. Within the residential development, stormwater will be treated and managed through a combination of residential rainwater gardens, neighborhood infiltration basins, and conventional storm sewer and ponding. Conservation areas contained within identified conservation easements and outlots will be restored and managed as natural communities consistent with the pre - settlement vegetation of the site, such as oak woodlands and savannas, aspen woodlands, wet meadows, emergent marshes, mesic prairies, and wet prairies. The on -site natural resources inventory and ecological assessment was conducted by CCES ecologists from April through September 2005, and served as baseline natural resources information from which the site plan was developed. The site inventory and ecological assessment was designed to document the extent and types of existing vegetation and native plant communities, to assess the relative ecological quality of remaining natural vegetation and semi - natural areas, to serve as baseline information from which the conservation development site plan would be planned and designed, and to identify opportunities and prioritize resource needs for immediate and long -term restoration and management within the conservation areas. Landscape scale information (e.g., surficial geology, soils, presettlement vegetation) and past land use history were researched from historic documents and other resources, and are cited within the text where appropriate. Background information regarding the site's landscape context and context within the City's planned open space and greenway system were considered and incorporated into the natural resources stewardship plan as well. The Preserve Conservation Development - Restoration and Management Plan 1