6.a Public hearing on draft ordinance regulating land alteration and grading444 Cedw Street, 5vte 1500
Saint Paul, MN 55101
651 292,4400
tkda.com
TKD
Memorandum
To: Scandia Planning
Commission
Copies To: Neil Soltis, City
Administrator
Brenda Eklund, City Clerk
From: Sherri Buss, RLA AICP,
Planner
Date: July 24. 2018
Reference: Grading and Land Alteration
Standards—Public Hearing
Project No
Routing:
16623.000
The City Council requested that that the Planning Commission should discuss amending the
Development code section related to Grading and Land Alteration permits. The issues that the
Council identified include:
The City is receiving applications for building projects on small parcels, particularly in
Shoreland areas. There have also been some recent projects that have affected
sedimentation and drainage off-site on other parcels or onto city rights-of-way. These
projects have not met the current Development Code thresholds that require submitting
a grading or land alternation permit and could not be regulated. (The current standard
says that a permit is required for land alteration and grading of 10 cubic yards or
disturbance of 1,000 square feet of area.)
• The current Development Code requirements exempt projects that need a building
permit from a requirement to submit a separate grading and land alteration permit. The
Building Inspector reviews these permit applications, rather than the City Engineer.
If the Engineer's time is needed for these grading reviews, this exemption does not allow
the City to recover the costs of the Engineer's time to review the grading plans and
recommend changes if needed.
• The City recently adopted a lower threshold for requiring grading permits in the
Shoreland Ordinance.
The Planning Commission is recommending amendments to the Zoning Ordinance to address
the Council's concerns. The amended ordinance will be discussed at a public hearing at the
August 7 Planning Commission meeting. The proposed amendment includes these changes:
• Reduces the threshold for when a permit is needed from 50 to 10 cubic yards of land
alteration and grading (adding or removing material or excavation within the site), or 600
square feet or more of land area (down from 1,000 square
An ernptoyeeowned cmpany prorminq clkrmalllye 1301 on aid equal uppo-rluWky
Grading and Land Alteration Permits Page 2 August 7, 2018
Scandia Planning Commission
feet). These are the same thresholds as those that the City adopted in the Shoreland
Ordinance update.
• Adds requirements that any excavating, grading or filling in public waters, wetland
setback areas, bluff setback areas or bluff impact areas or the St. Croix River District
require a permit.
• Adds a requirement that the City can require a permit for any land alteration or
development activity, regardless of size if it is likely to cause an adverse impact to an
environmentally sensitive area or to a public property or a City right-of-way.
• Removes the permit exemption for projects that need a building permit.
• Changes the threshold for driveway permits to the same threshold proposed for other
grading and land alteration permits, but does not require a permit for regular driveway
maintenance.
• Updates the section on Permit Applications to include the requirements for the grading
and land alteration permits, including the fee and escrow established by the city.
• Updates the section on fill slopes to match the updated Shoreland Ordinance.
7