Minnetonka veers course on buffers
September 27th, 2007 Posted in Community | No Comments »By David Schueller
Minnetonka pulled a shoreland buffer requirement from a draft ordinance in the wake of public opposition voiced at a November listening session that nearly 250 people attended.
Now, details of the ordinance are murky as the city renegotiates with the Department of Natural Resources (DNR).
The vegetated buffer requirement was intended to improve water quality. It also served as a bargaining chip for the city as it negotiated less stringent standards than the DNR requires for some sections of the ordinance.
While the DNR doesn’t require buffers, since 1994 it required cities to update their shoreland ordinances, which are subject to DNR approval.
City Manager John Gunyou said in exchange for a buffer requirement, the DNR had allowed leniency on items such as patios, decks and hard surface requirements. Now, the deal will be reopened without the buffer requirement.
“We need to talk about the tradeoffs for that. And presumably we’ll have to be less lenient on all the other things,” Gunyou said.
He said hopefully an agreement can be reached by Jan. 28, a tentative date for the City Council to consider it.
The city had proposed that property owners be required to plant native vegetation 25 feet up from shore if making significant changes to their properties.
In the future, instead of a buffer requirement, the city will work on a voluntary education program for shoreland management, said Gunyou.
Though the buffer requirement stirred up the most opposition out of any other section in the draft ordinance, buffers were one of several ambitious measures proposed by a city known for taking the lead on natural resource protection.
The city passed a wetland protection ordinance before the state had such requirements, Gunyou said.
“Natural resource preservation is a very high value of the city of Minnetonka,” he said, citing the city survey and resident input. “We are still very committed to that. I think the concern that was raised about the shoreland buffers was the individual property rights issue.”
Property rights was the big issue for Terry Bryce, who lives between Libbs Lake and Grays Bay, and had helped organize opposition to the buffer requirement.
He said it amounted to the city trying to control private land.
Bryce said he would be in favor of a voluntary program.
“I think the way that the city is going to promote this is through education and voluntary things. And I give them credit for that,” Bryce said.
He also said he favored uniting waterfront property owners of all stripes - those near small lakes, creeks and Lake Minnetonka - so that the new ordinance reflects the different needs of those on different waters.
“My concern is we get an ordinance that everybody’s happy with,” Bryce said.
Minnetonka is considering its shoreland ordinance along with other natural resource ordinance updates relating to trees, grading and drainage, steep slopes and hard surface coverage.
In July, lakeshore area property owners were notified about the proposed shoreland ordinance.
The draft ordinance included changes in requirements for building height, setbacks and hard surface coverage, among other items - any of which are open for tweaking during the negotiations.
As the draft ordinance stands, buildings 150 feet from the water would be limited to 35 feet in height, and buildings 150-300 feet from the water would be limited to 50 feet in height.
Regarding setbacks, the proposed ordinance allows more flexibility for structures like retaining walls, detached decks, patios and sport courts.
Now, they must be at least 50 or 75 feet from the water, depending on the amount of development around the lake.
The proposed ordinance would limit their distance from the water to 35 feet or 50 feet. For all structures except those that are water related, the DNR model requires setbacks of 50 and 75 feet.
The allowed hard surface coverage - a maximum of 30 percent coverage within 150 feet of the water - would be greater than the DNR’s 25 percent limit.
In addition to talking with the DNR, Minnetonka could be calling on its neighbors.
Gunyou said the city is starting to look into collaborating with other cities on shoreland protection.
It already is working with agencies like Three Rivers Park District, the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District and Hennepin County on improving access to Minnehaha Creek.
The initial efforts to work with other cities look promising, Gunyou said.
“There’s a feeling that we need to work together. I’ve often said that Minnetonka is part of a region,” Gunyou said. “It doesn’t make sense to look at us in isolation.”