ITEM: 12.3 ADMINISTRATION - Jim Hafner, Stormwater Manager
Title
APPROVE PROGRAMMATIC STORMWATER MANAGEMENT FACILITY MAINTENANCE AGREEMENT WITH RICE CREEK WATERSHED DISTRICT
Background
In the past, the Rice Creek Watershed District (RCWD) required a separate maintenance agreement that would be registered with the land title, for each stormwater treatment facility constructed for City projects. This involved granting an easement for access should the RCWD have occasion to enter the individual sites. Staff has resisted the need for agreements based on two arguments. One, the facilities are located on public land and, therefore, no easement is required for another public agency to access the site, particularly when that agency has issued a permit for a related project and the law grants rights for inspection under that permitting authority. Second, the stormwater facilities are required to be maintained under the City's MS4 permit through the State of Minnesota (MN Pollution Control Agency). That permit also requires an annual reporting of all maintenance performed by the City. A separate agreement would be redundant. It would also be cumbersome to record individual agreements on outlots for every City project.
Staff has negotiated a Programmatic Maintenance Agreement with the RCWD which acts as a general, unrecorded maintenance agreement for all City projects. This eliminates the need for separate agreements on individual projects. The City agrees, under this agreement, to provide to the RCWD a copy of the annual report submitted to the State, including a statement of proof that the necessary treatment facilities were maintained on the schedule established by the City. The City Attorney has reviewed the document and appropriate revisions were negotiated with the RCWD. The final document is presented for Council approval. At the request of the RCWD, three previous City projects for which we did not provide separate maintenance agreements have been included in this agreement. This will allow the RCWD to close those projects and consider them compliant.
Recommendation
By motion, approve the resolution.
Body
WHEREAS, pursuant to Minnesota Statutes ยง 103D.345, the Rice Creek Watershed District (RCWD) has adopted and implements Rule C, Stormwater Management Plans, in which certain land development activity requires a landowner to record a declaration establishing the landowner's perpetual obligation to inspect and maintain stormwater management facilities; and
WHEREAS, a public landowner may memorialize its obligations in an unrecorded written agreement with the RCWD instead of a recorded agreement; and
WHEREAS, from time to time the City of Blaine is subject to stormwater facility maintenance requirements pursuant to the terms of a RCWD permit; and
WHEREAS, the City of Blaine, as a Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4), is obligated to inspect and maintain its stormwater management facilities in accordance with the terms of a Clean Water Act permit administered by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, and all parties desire to promote consistency in facility management requirements consistent with RCWD authority to set requirements necessary to meet its rules; and
WHEREAS, the RCWD and the City of Blaine concur that it is more effective and procedurally more efficient to agree on standard requirements for stormwater facility inspection and maintenance, and to memorialize these requirements in a Programmatic Stormwater Management Facility Maintenance Agreement for incorporation into future permits.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, by the City Council of the City of Blaine as follows:
1. The Programmatic Stormwater Management Facility Maintenance Agreement between the Rice Creek Watershed District and the City of Blaine is hereby approved.
2. The City Manager is hereby authorized and directed to execute said agreement.
PASSED by the City Council of the City of Blaine this 17th day of April, 2014.