Valley Branch Watershed District

Minutes of Regular Meeting # 678 Held in the Lake Elmo City Council Chambers
Thursday, January 9, 2003

MANAGERS PRESENT:	Dave Bucheck, President; Lincoln Fetcher, Vice President; Don Scheel, Secretary; Dale Borash, Treasurer; Duane Johnson, Manager
STAFF PRESENT:	John Hanson, Barr Engineering; Ray Marshall, Attorney; Ray Roemmich, Inspector; Karen Schultz, Recording Secretary
OTHERS PRESENT:	Candice Kraemer, Citizens Advisory Committee; and Aaron Hemquist and Gary Brown, RLK Kuusisto, Ltd., Woodbury Town Center Permit

CALL TO ORDER Meeting called to order by President Bucheck at 7:00 p.m.

ANNOUNCEMENTS There were no announcements.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES After discussion of the minutes of the December 12, 2002 meeting, motion was made by Johnson, seconded by Borash, to approve the minutes as corrected. Motion carried unanimously.

ADDITIONAL AGENDA ITEMS No items were added to the agenda.

PUBLIC FORUM There was no discussion in the Public Forum segment of the meeting.

CITIZENS ADVISORY COMMITTEE Chuck Taylor was not present, but he had mailed the lake level report to the managers, and they discussed it at the meeting.

SECRETARY=S REPORT Secretary Scheel said the mail had been distributed.

INSPECTOR=S REPORT Inspector Roemmich reported that no new projects have been started, and that things are pretty quiet.

ATTORNEY=S REPORT Attorney Marshall said there was nothing new to report.

TREASURER=S REPORT Lincoln Fetcher said he has prepared a Atransition@ document for Dale Borash, who was elected Treasurer at the last managers= meeting, and will meet with Treasurer Borash, Engineer Hanson, and Mark Gibbs of Tautges, Redpath, Ltd. at a time convenient for all of them, to discuss the District=s accounts.

CHANGE IN ORDER OF AGENDA ITEMS At this time President Bucheck authorized a change in the order of agenda items

ENGINEER=S REPORT Permit Request: Hidden Lake Office Condominiums, White Bear Lake At the last meeting, the managers tabled the permit application for Hidden Lake Office Condominiums, with a request that the applicant modify the application to be consistent with the VBWD rules, specifically the wetland buffer rule. The purpose of the project is to construct seven office condominiums, associated parking lots, and a stormwater pond. At this meeting, Engineer Hanson presented information showing that the 16.5-foot buffer will be maintained around the entire perimeter of the wetland in order to conform to the District=s rules. After discussion of the wetland management concerns, the erosion control concerns, and the water management concerns, motion was made by Borash and seconded by Scheel to approve Permit No. 2002-24 with the engineer=s suggested site-specific conditions, as well as the standard conditions. Motion carried unanimously.

Downs Lake Project Engineer Hanson said that he has sent letters to all the neighborhood residents regarding the Downs Lake Project contract, and has met with several landowners. On Monday, January 13^th, at 10:00 a.m. he will meet with the contractor for a preconstruction meeting. All property owners living adjacent to the sites of construction activities are invited to attend, as well as President Bucheck and Tom Prew, the Lake Elmo City Engineer. They will meet at the corner of 20^th and Manning Trail, and tour all the construction sites. After the contract is signed, a letter of notice to proceed will be sent.

Fahlstrom Pond Engineer Hanson had mailed a draft report of the Fahlstrom Pond Study to the managers for their review. After the managers review the draft and provide comments, Engineer Hanson will finalize the report and send it to the affected cities for their comments.

Woodbury Town Center, Woodbury Engineer Hanson presented information on a project located at the southeast quadrant of Highway I-94 and Woodbury Drive in the NW 1/4 of Section 2, Township 28 North, Range 21 West. The purpose of the project is to reconfigure and expand the existing Woodbury Outlet Mall, which includes reconfiguring an existing stormwater pond, creating a new stormwater pond, filling a small amount of wetland, and creating a wetland replacement site. The reconfiguration involves removing some buildings and constructing new buildings at the northeast corner. The new buildings will cause some wetland fill impacts. The applicant is also proposing to reconfigure the parking lot, which impacts the existing stormwater pond.

The managers discussed the poor soils on the site and how they will likely cause the proposed rainwater gardens to be unsuccessful at infiltrating runoff. The managers voiced concern that others considering rainwater gardens, may be discouraged about their use in a more appropriate site.

After discussion of other water management concerns, the wetland management concerns, and the erosion control concerns, motion was made by Borash and seconded by Johnson to approve Permit No. 2002-23 with the engineer=s suggested site-specific conditions, the suggested standard conditions, as well as a condition suggested by the managers concerning the infiltration situation because of poor soil type. Motion carried unanimously.

Sunnybrook Lake Easements Engineer Hanson said he and Attorney Barb Wolle have met with Appraiser Bill Schwab concerning the cost of drainage easements between Keats Avenue and Jocelyn Road relating to the possible Sunnybrook Lake project. Engineer Hanson had mailed a memorandum containing a map of the area and a summary of cost estimates. The managers and Engineer Hanson had a lengthy discussion of the cost of easements for the houses in the area.

The managers directed Engineer Hanson to ask Appraiser Schwab to make initial contacts with the property owner and to develop a refined easement cost estimate.

2003 Activities Engineer Hanson had mailed to the managers a list of activities that the managers have discussed as possible accomplishments in 2003. The managers will review the list. Engineer Hanson also said that Washington County officials have asked watershed districts to submit their 2002 annual reports before March 31, 2003.

MANAGERS= REPORT Next Meeting - January 23, 2003 The managers said they do expect to have a quorum at the next meeting. Manager Johnson plans to be out of state for the next two months, and Secretary Scheel will be out of state for the next month.

2003 Goals President Bucheck said he will prepare a list of goals for 2003 for the managers= review at the next meeting.

Annual Report for 2002 Engineer Hanson and Recording Secretary Karen Schultz said that it is possible to have the 2002 annual report draft to the managers in time to meet the March 31, 2003 deadline.

ADJOURNMENT Motion made by Borash and seconded by Fetcher at 8:40 p.m. to adjourn the meeting. Motion carried unanimously.

Respectfully Submitted,

Donald Scheel, Secretary

Minutes Approved by Managers 01/23/03