12/20/2006 Env Bd Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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• DRAFT DECEMBER 14, 2006 FINDINGS OF FACT ADMINISTRATIVE BACKGROUND The City of Lino Lakes is the responsible governmental unit (RGU) for this project. An Environmental Assessment Worksheet (EAW) has been prepared for this project as prescribed by Environmental review requirements. Lino Lakes prepared the EAW. The EAW was filed with the Minnesota Environmental Quality board (MEQB) and circulated for review and comments to the required EAW distribution list. A Notice of Availability was published in the EQB Monitor on October 23, 2006. The thirty -day comment period closed on November 22, 2006. Written comments received from agencies and citizens are summarized and responded to in this report in the section "EAW Comment and Responses ". PROJECT DESCRIPTION Nature's Refuge is a proposed conservation development that will create a new residential subdivision combined with a wetland conservation area in the City of Lino Lakes. The subdivision will provide additional housing capacity in the form of an infill development. The conservation area will restore and preserve valuable natural resources by combining residential development with a large, high - quality existing wetland complex containing rare plant species and communities. The project relies upon a strategy to create a nature preserve by enhancing (through restoration and active management) a large area of higher - quality wetland as compensation for filling a smaller acreage of lower - quality wetland. The proposed project includes 278 single family residential lots. Sanitary sewer and water supply will be extended from existing infrastructure to service these new lots. The streets will wind through the development, avoiding the majority of wetlands. The typical lot will be rectangular and approximately 80' by 120', but the winding, irregular nature of the streets will mean that many lots will have different dimensions and shape, though their sizes will be similar. The project will include restoration and management activities for the majority of the property's wetland area in order to create conservation areas and to offset wetland impacts created by the project. Based in part on the presence of rare plant species and communities on the project site, the Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources (BWSR) has already given verbal approval to apply the "Exceptional Natural Resource Value" (ENRV) provisions of the Minnesota Wetland Conservation Act (WCA) to the wetland impact mitigation plans for the project. Under these provisions, the applicants will gain extra mitigation credits for properly restoring the wetlands that support rare species and unique vegetative wetland communities. This will provide enhancement and