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48.01 <br /> CHAPTER 48 <br /> WETLAND ZONING ORDINANCE <br /> 48.01. TITLE, COUNCIL FINDINGS, POLICY, PURPOSES, AND MEANS. <br /> Subdivision 1. Citation. Section 48.01 to 48.15 may be cited as the <br /> Wetlands Ordinance. <br /> Subdivision 2. Findings and Purposes. The Council finds that wetlands <br /> within the City, as part of the ecosystem, are critical to the present and <br /> future health, safety, and general welfare of the land, animals, and people <br /> within the City, as well as within the Rice Creek Watershed District; that <br /> existing and potential development within the City and Rice Creek Watershed <br /> possess increasing ecological and economic problems and demands, having the <br /> effect of potentially despoiling, polluting, accelerating the aging, <br /> eliminating or negatively and irretrievably altering both the wetlands and <br /> their functions (and the processes associated therewith) which, if managed <br /> will constitute important physical, educational, ecological, aesthetic, <br /> recreational, and economic assets for existing and future residents of the <br /> community and the Rice Creek Watershed District. The City Council has in <br /> mind its statutory obligation to comply with Chapters 104, 105, and 112 of <br /> Minnesota State Law, the regulations of Rice Creek Watershed District, <br /> Regulations of the Department of Natural Resources, including provisions for <br /> protected waters, Public Law 92-500 (Federal Water Pollution Control Act) , <br /> open space policies of the Metropolitan Council and its guidelines <br /> encouraging protection and enhancement of marshes, wetlands in the flood <br /> plain area, and the public interest in preventing irreparable destruction or <br /> deterioration of valuable natural resources. Therefore, recognizing the <br /> obligation to protect these assets and natural resource gifts from <br /> destruction or deterioration and pollution of all kinds, the purposes of this <br /> Chapter are: <br /> A. To preserve wetlands in as natural a state as possible; to serve as <br /> natural retention and detention areas for surface waters; to <br /> regulate the use of areas adjacent to the wetlands in order to <br /> protect and enhance the natural function of the wetlands; to <br /> provide for the protection, preservation, proper maintenance, use <br /> and enhancement of wetland zoning districts; to minimize the <br /> disturbance to them and to prevent or minimize damage from <br /> excessive <br /> 48.01 <br /> sedimentation, eutrophication, or pollution; to prevent loss of <br /> aquatic organisms, wildlife, and vegetation or the habitats of the <br /> 1 <br />