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CHAPTER 48 WETLAND ZONING ORDINANCE 48.01. TITLE COUNCIL FINDINGS POLICY, PURPOSES, AND MEANS. Subdivision 1. Citation. Section 48.01 to 48.15 may be cited as the Wetlands Ordinance. Subdivision 2. Fines and Purposes. The Council finds that wetlands within the City, as part of the ecosystem, are critical to the present and future health, safety, and general welfare of the land, animals, and people within the City, as well as within the Rice Creek Watershed District; that existing and potential development within the City and Rice Creek Watershed possess increasing ecological and economic problems and demands, having the effect of potentially despoiling, polluting, accelerating the aging, eliminating or negatively and irretrievably altering both the wetlands and their functions (and the processes associated therewith) which, if cousesed properly mane ed wi22 constitute important physical, educational, ecological, aesthetic, recreational, and economic assets for existing and future residents of the community and the Rice Creek Watershed District. The City Council has in mind its statutory obligation to comply with Chapters 104, 105, and 112 of Minnesota State Law, the regulations of the Rice Creek Watershed District, Regulations of the Department of Natural Resources, including provisions for protected waters, Public Law 92-500 (Federal Water Pollution Control Act), open space policies of the Metropolitan Council and its guidelines encouraging protection and enhancement of marshes, and wetlands in the flood plain area, and the public interest in preventing irreparable destruction or deterioration of valuable natural resources. Therefore, recognizing the obligation to protect these assets and natural resource gifts from destruction or deteriorarion and pollution of all kinds, the purposes of this Chapter are: A. To preserve wetlands in as natural a state as possible; to serve as natural retention and detention areas for surface waters; to regulate the use of areas adjacent to the wetlands in order to protect and enhance the natural function of the wetlands; to provide for the protection, preservation, proper maintenance, use and enhancement of wetland zoning districts; to minimize the disturbance to them and to prevent or minimize damage from excessive sedimentation, eutrophication, or pollution; to prevent loss of hen -ficial aquatic organisms, wildlife, and vegetation or the habitats of the same; to provide for the protection of surface and round--fz4 H water supplies from the danger of drought, overdraft, pollution, or mismanagement; to secure safety from floods; to reduce the financial burdens imposed upon the community through rescue and relief efforts occasioned by the occupancy or use of areas subject to periodic flooding; to prevent loss of life, 2362161/WZO/PLS 1