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Mounds View City Council March 12, 2007 <br />Regular Meeting Page 7 <br />• Council Member Flaherty asked whether a wetland alteration permit was required for Red Oak <br />Estates. <br />Mr. Harstad indicated that the judge did not require it. <br />Council Member Flaherty explained that the permit states that no fill shall be brought onto the <br />site. He then said that the permit requested will allow only for tree removal from the Longview <br />tract of land and nothing else is permitted. He further asked if that includes removal of stumps. <br />Mr. Harstad said that is controlled by the local governing unit and that would be Rice Creek. He <br />then said that trees can be removed in the winter but you must leave the stump. He further said <br />that if you look at the site you will see stumps in the wetland area and the stumps outside of the <br />wetland were ground. <br />Mayor Marty said he feels a little uneasy about the language concerning increasing flow and he is <br />concerned about removing cottonwoods because a mature cottonwood can take upwards of 500 <br />gallons of water per day. He then said that even though they are scrub trees they are useful and <br />he is concerned for the future and removing the water vacuums may create some impact to the <br />water table in the low lying areas. <br />Director Ericson said that he asked Rice Creek Watershed District that question and then said <br />• that he has a response from them by emaiL He further said that larger trees do absorb a certain <br />quantity of water but he does not feel that they will impact flood storage or water to be contained <br />in a certain area. <br />Mr. Harstad explained that there are inlets to the property but there is also an outlet and the <br />wetland will not change a whole lot because it is usually at capacity due to the inlets. <br />Council Member Flaherty said that he would like Council to consider in the future that there was <br />only 48 hours between when the notification was made to the City and the commencing of the <br />work. <br />Mr. Harstad apologized for that but said that this project has been a long process and there have <br />been numerous meetings and said that he feels it was made clear that he wanted to develop his <br />properly. He then said that the delineation flags were out and he did call the City and the <br />watershed district and the chair of the watershed and then he proceeded. <br />Pete Severson of 5172 Longview Drive said that he just heard a Council Member speaking for <br />him and he would prefer that does not happen. He then said that he does not have a very good <br />neighbor in regards to protecting the earth and providing habitat for the animals. He further said <br />that it was a surprise when the big trees started coming down. <br />• Mr. Severson said he would like to know how the City handles landowners who ignore the rules <br />and landowners who ignore the process. He then asked if the City feels that this developer really <br />did not know the rules. He further said that this should have been handled differently. <br />