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LAKE ELMO CITY COUNCIL MTG. - 5/3/83 Page two <br />( there will be no increase in rate or volume of flowage and that any future plans <br />which Woodbury and Cottage Grove might devise for piping would not include any <br />anticipated runoff from Lake Elmo. Flowage from Oakdale comes from Minnehaha <br />across my property, and there are several other culverts further on down where <br />the flowage goes out of Lake Elmo and crosses into a big ravine. It would seem <br />that for a lesser amount of money, some monitoring and other things can <br />establish what the flowage is (Highway Dept and County would have information <br />from establishing size of culverts). The actual bill and intent of legislation <br />passed doesn't say anything about cement and pipes such as Woodbury and Cottage <br />Grove are proposing, but was passed to prevent flooding and erosion as needed, <br />for ground water recharge and to protect or enhance wildlife and water <br />recreational facilities. I would propose to work on this on behalf of the City <br />and in addition that the City look toward establishing separate overlay zoning <br />for this particular watershed, that the City put on extra controls to guarantee <br />that new building require an extra study to see what effect this would have on <br />the runoff. We have the perfect possibility here with ponding to store all the <br />water. Whittaker has said that Cottage Grove and Woodbury won't buy this and <br />will come back and assess us (about $218/acre), which would mean the end of <br />farming in Woodbury. I talked to city attorney and he said he doubts if Cottage <br />Grove would ever sign anything like that because they want to keep the price as <br />low as possible. I think if we take a hard line and explain this to other city <br />governments and explain that intent of bill is to promote ponding, they would be <br />hard pressed to continue the "engineer's pipe dream." Basically, your <br />philosophy is right and in agreement with the philosophy of the bill; and the <br />solution at this point is to hammer out a legal contract that Lake Elmo will <br />( guarantee to the lower cities, that we will not increase the rate of flow over <br />what is established, enforce it rigidly, and then we will not be forced to pay <br />for pipes in Woodbury and Cottage Grove. We can't pursue philosophy that people <br />living here now are going to pay for a pipe plan that generations from now might <br />utilize. We need the water here now. I am willing to offer my services as <br />representative of property owners in reaching an agreement with cities down <br />there. <br />Only constraint for elevation of lake is how high the water can go on north <br />end of roadbed. When water level falls and lake is dry, it could be mucked out <br />making for more storage capacity. <br />• Eder mentioned man-made outlet that flows to south of 213B; Armstrong said <br />ditch is very hard to find and spreads into field. <br />p Fraser - Feels it would be desirable to pursue this and need written statement <br />that staff members could review. What is legality of Tom Armstrong representing <br />us? <br />® Whittaker - Don't know if we can legally use a citizen to represent the City <br />in negotiating a joint powers agreement. The support would be nice. <br />• Armstrong - Would "assist" the City in negotiating this philosophy which the <br />City supports. <br />• Morgan - I think we should take advantage of Tom's offer and vast experience <br />he is willing to donate free of charge; nothing in the statutes prevents the <br />Council from appointing a citizen advisory committee even if one person. <br />• Bohrer said policy in design standards could be further defined. <br />• Armstrong - Only thing I've proposed to add to former policy is overlay zoning <br />district to ensure City that they could enforce more stringent requirements to <br />promote ponding. Option could be put in that if development does increase rate <br />of flow, then money would have to be added by property owner. <br />