09/02/2008 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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• • • available to property owners /developers for preparing site plans and for staff to use during the development review and approval process to ensure that development suitability of each site is considered. • Handbook for Environmental Planning and Conservation Development: The Handbook (published in December 1999) provides detailed guidance to enable the City to establish a viable conservation development program, and includes: a natural resources based planning model and framework, an overview of Lino Lakes existing ecological resources, priority areas for ecological protection within the City, action steps for protection of ecological systems, potential open space and greenway corridors, a framework for ecological restoration and management, and principles of and guidelines for conservation development. • Planned Unit Development (PUD) to promote Low Impact Design /Conservation Development Principles: The purpose of this approach to development is to preserve and enhance valued resources within new development. To preserve these areas, development uses low impact design principals, and /or is clustered on only a portion of the site, while environmentally sensitive areas are preserved as open space. By clustering development and creating smaller lot sizes for residential development, developers can still construct the same number of dwelling units on the site as would otherwise be permitted in that zoning district, while preserving valuable open space areas. The same concept can apply to non - residential projects. The City of Lino Lakes has effectively used conservation subdivision techniques for the past several years to preserve or plan for the preservation of valuable resource areas. Incentives will apply to all development that is located within or adjacent to environmentally sensitive areas. Incentives may include density bonuses, reduced fees, an expedited permitting process, or flexibility regarding staging area boundaries and timing. Ordinances: The City will review and update its ordinances to be consistent with the revised Comprehensive Plan. Through ordinance standards and the development review and permitting process, the City is able to implement many of the goals and policies included in the Plan, including the dedication of new parks, open space and trails and protection of natural features, such as wetlands, woodlands, and wildlife and plant habitats, In addition to ordinances protecting natural features, environmental protection within the city may also be supported through the incorporation of green building techniques to reduce the impacts of development and redevelopment. To promote attractive, quality development that enhances the character of Lino Lakes, landscape and design standards will also be reviewed and updated. • Rice Creek Watershed District Lino Lakes Resource Management Plan: As part of the integrated comprehensive planning process, the Rice Creek Watershed District prepared a Resource Management Plan to provide a watershed -based approach to wetland management. This process included an analysis of the city's future land use plan to determine the impacts of future growth on the area's aquatic resources. A key component of the plan is to establish a Wetland Preservation Corridor. This corridor may include high priority wetlands, natural open space (uplands), greenway connections, and marginally suitable development areas. The plan identifies several strategies to mitigate development impacts, particularly within the Wetland Preservation Corridor, as more fully described in Chapter 2: Resource Management System Plan. 3 -21