7.b iii Report on Ordinance 200 amending the Development code for Land Alteration and Grading444 Cedw Street, 5vte 1500
Saint Paul, MN 55101
651 292,4400
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TKD
Memorandum
To:
Scandia City Council
Reference: Grading and Land Alteration
Standards—Ordinance
Amendment
Copies To:
Neil Soltis, City
Administrator
Brenda Eklund, City Clerk
Project No.: 16623.000
From:
Sherri Buss, RLA AICP,
Routing:
Planner
Date:
August 13, 2018
The City Council recently requested that that the Planning Commission consider 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, in Shoreland
areas and elsewhere, that have caused sedimentation and drainage issues off-site on
other parcels and/or city rights-of-way. These projects have not met the current
Development Code thresholds that require submitting a grading or land alternation
permit and therefore could not be regulated. (The current standard says that a permit is
required for land alteration and grading of 50 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 has developed and recommended amendments to the Zoning
Ordinance to address the Council's concerns. The Commission held a public hearing on the
proposed Development Code amendments on August 7 and received no public comments on
the amendments. The City received one comment letter from Tiller Corporation after the
Planning Commission meeting that requested that the ordinance state that grading and land
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Grading and Land Alteration Permits Page 2
Scandia City Council
August 21, 2018
alteration activities for mining uses are governed by Chapter 4 of the Development Code,
Mining and Related Activities. Staff updated the ordinance amendment to address that request.
The proposed Development Code amendment includes these changes:
• The amendment reduces the threshold for when a permit is needed from 50 to 10 cubic
yards of land alteration and grading, or from 1000 to 600 square feet or more of land
area. These are the same thresholds as those that the City adopted in the recent
Shoreland Ordinance update.
• It adds requirements that any excavating, grading or filling within public waters, wetland
setbacks, 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, to a public property, or to a City right-of-way.
• It removes the permit exemption for projects that need a building permit.
• It 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.
• It 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.
• It updates the section on fill slopes to match the updated Shoreland Ordinance.
Plannina Commission Discussion on Auaust 7
The Planning Commission had a final discussion on the proposed amendment on August 7.
The Commission's discussion included the following issues:
• The requirement for a grading/erosion control permit at the new thresholds should be
required for building projects, because most new buildings disturb enough land area to
require a review of potential grading and erosion. The time needed from the City's
Engineer to complete the reviews for most projects should be minimal if the applicants
provide the required information.
• Commissioners do not want to put an unnecessary burden on landowners for grading
activities that have no potential to affect surrounding properties, public rights-of-way or
water bodies and natural resources. They discussed this issue at length, and reviewed
the list of activities that are Exceptions to the permit requirements [Item 3.6 (3)] in the
amendment to see if it covered a reasonable list of activities that would not require
permits. The asked the City Administrator to estimate the typical costs for grading
permit application reviews.
• They recommended that staff keep a list of the permit applications during the next year,
including the number of permit applications, types of activity, and costs for review, so
that the City can review this information in a year and evaluate the impacts of the
amendment and whether the requirements are meeting the City's goals without placing
an unreasonable burden on city landowners and residents.
The Planning Commission recommended that the Council approve the proposed ordinance
amendment to the Land Alteration and Grading section of the Development Code.
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