08/23/1999 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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• August 9, 1999, City Council Background: The specific action requested by Russell D. and Elizabeth M. Melton, the owners of Lot 2, Block 1, Oak Brook Peninsula, is the vacation of a portion of the City's drainage and utility easement which contains a hockey rink which the Melton's have constructed. The specific area requested includes not only the hockey rink but also the area parallel to, and within 12 feet of, the rink. The entire area of the drainage and utility easement on this lot as indicated on the plat is about 22,100 square feet (SF). Of this total area, about 16,500 SF were intended to be used as compensatory flood storage based on the location of the 912 contour shown on the original grading plan. The resident of Lot 2 is requesting that the City vacate about 3,500 SF of the easement. This would result in about 20% of the flood storage area being vacated. For your information, the existing open water pond which has been constructed has an area of about 6,000 SF. A review of the file for the Oak Brook Peninsula project indicates the drainage and utility easement on Lot 2 was dedicated for at least three purposes. The narrow portion at the northwest end of the property contains a storm sewer outlet to convey roadway runoff from Otter Lake Drive to a pond area. The easement also contains space for a 30 foot by 30 foot "wet" pond. The pond would help control the rate of runoff to Otter Lake and provide a settling basin for sedimentation from the roadway. The majority of the area contained in the easement was dedicated to provide compensatory flood 110 storage adjacent to Otter Lake. The Rice Creek Watershed rules required that "no fill may be placed below the 100 -year flood elevation unless compensatory storage is provided ". This requirement is necessary to ensure the capacity of the lake to store flood waters is not reduced by filling activity. The grading of the subdivision required a certain amount of fill be placed below the 100 -year level so the developer was required to excavate a like volume elsewhere along the Lakeshore. One matter not in dispute is the fact that the developer of the Oak Brook Peninsula subdivision did not grade the easement area on Lot 2 according to the proposed grading plan. To make matters worse, other alterations were apparently made to the grading in this area which contradicts the grading plan. These alterations include the construction of swales; excavation of pond areas not in conformance with the plan; and some filling of the easement area to support the hockey rink construction. When considering the vacation of the easement we did not focus on recent changes made to the drainage patterns. Instead, we focused on the original grading plan, the original purpose of the easement, and whether it is in the City's best interest to vacate a portion of the easement. As the Rice Creek Watershed District (RCWD) and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (MnDNR) both had review authority over the proposed grading plan for this subdivision, we have solicited their comments on the easement vacation. A copy of the correspondence received from these agencies is attached. Both of the agencies recommend that the compensatory flood storage shown on the original grading plan be constructed. If not within the existing easement, then in another • location abutting the lake. If the storage is not constructed per the original plan, a new permit application will be required.