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A WSB — 701 Xenia Avenue South I Suite 3001 Minneapolis, MN 55416 1 (763) 541-4800 Memorandum To: LisaBeth Barajas, Metropolitan Council Karen Scheffing, MnDOT Karen Kromar, MPCA Rebecca Horton, DNR From: Andi Moffatt, WSB Date: September 22, 2017 Re: Everton Avenue AUAR Update — Responses to Comments WSB Project No. 2121-810 The City of Hugo received comments from the Metropolitan Council, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR), Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA), and Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) regarding the 2017 Everton Avenue AUAR Update. Responses to these comments are provided below. Metropolitan Council Comment 1: The staff review has concluded that the AUAR is complete and accurate with respect to regional concerns and does not raise major issues of consistency with Council policies. Response 1: No response required. Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Comment 1: It should be noted that, as stated in the NHIS correspondence letter included in Appendix B of the AUAR Update, the proposed activities were not evaluated for their potential to adversely affect rare features identified in the Index Report. As development continues and as permits are acquired, we recommended that the City consider the potential for impacts to rare features as it pertains to the current activity, as well as to how the entire project may cumulatively affect rare features. Response 1: The City will use the DNR NHIS information as part of the development review process as the study area continues to develop. This information, along with the mitigation measures in the AUAR, will be used to review development projects. Comment 2: The project area is partially within an area identified as a Central Region Regionally Significant Ecological Area that is ranked as Outstanding. As such, we continue to encourage that the City consider in project planning, ways to maintain wildlife corridors and to preserve blocks of habitat as feasible. The DNR is available to help identify which areas wildlife may benefit from this the most. This would go towards avoidance and mitigation for potential impacts to rare features. The DNR also recommends that future AUAR updates include a discussion of what mitigation has been incorporated into project planning, such as those recommendations provided and discussed within the AUAR as they pertain to Blanding's turtles (e.g. oversized culverts and wildlife -friendly erosion control mesh). Response 2: As development occurs, the City is engaging developers to maintain green and open space per the original AUAR Figure 9's depiction of general greenway corridors in the study area. This effort has occurred and will continue to be implemented. The City will also include the need for wildlife friendly construction methods such as the erosion control mesh and culvert design in discussions with project proposers. Building a legacy — your legacy. Equal Opportunity Employer I wsbeng.com K:\010373-000\Admin\Docs\Comment Letters\MEMO - 092217 - commentresponse V2.docx