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11 CITY PLANNING AND ZONING The Applicant initially reached out to the City’s Planning and Zoning Deparment regarding the proposed Project in February 2021 and then followed-up consistently through the application submission to ensure the Project would comply with all code requirements for solar farms, and to confirm the application process and submittal requirements. The Applicant’s primary contact was the City Planner, Mr. Pen Prchal. At the time of this application, Mr. Prchal is no longer with the City’s Planning and Zoning Deparment. As such, copies of emails exhanged between Mr. Prchal and the Applicant are provided in Appendix E. The Applicant reached out to the City’s consultants at Bolten & Menk in August 2021 and shared the Site Plan for review in advance of application. WETLANDS/VALLY BRANCH WATERSHED DISTRICT REVIEW A Level 1 Wetland Delineation report was completed by Braun Intertec Corporation (Braun) in December 2020 and submitted to the Valley Branch Watershed District (VBWD) in March 2021. The VBWD requested completion of a field delineation following review of the proposed Project and Level 1 report. Braun Intertec completed a field delineation (Level 2 Delineation) in April 2021, which identified two wetlands on-site. A Level 2 Wetland Delineation Report was submitted to VBWD and US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) in May 2021 via joint application for wetland delineation concurrance. In June 2021, VBWD conducted an on-site review of the completed wetland delineations with representatives from Braun and provided their concurance of the delineations via a Minnesota Wetland Conservation Act Notice of Decision dated July 1, 2021. Following wetland boundary confirmation, the Project was reconfigured to avoid wetland impacts and a concept Site Plan was then emailed to VBWD with request for feedback. Mr. John Hanson, the VBWD Engineer, provided comments by phone and email in July 2021 regarding the VBWD Board’s past decisions to allow solar panels within wetland buffers, but not within delineated wetlands. He also provided his expectations for how the VBWD Board would view the Project’s anncillary equipment, such as fencing, access drives, and electrical equipment, located within the wetlands buffers. Based on these conversations, the Project’s Site Plan was again revised in conformance with VBWD’s preliminary guidance prior to this submittal.