It is the purpose and intent of this Section to protect and conserve wetland resources in the City of Wayzata in view of the facts that they serve as beneficial wildlife habitat, and that they also provide an effective, natural treatment, and control, of the City of Wayzata's stormwater runoff. Certain low lying and/or wetland areas of the City act as natural stormwater treatment control areas by detaining stormwater runoff, by allowing suspended sediment to settle from such water, and by removing nutrients from the runoff. These detention and drainageways thereby beneficially control both quantity and quality of stormwater runoff, and provide habitat for wildlife. A development or alteration of such areas could severely reduce the overall effectiveness of the City's stormwater treatment and control system by increasing potential pollution of Lake Minnetonka and increasing the flood damage potential to areas adjacent to the natural drainage areas. The preservation of areas containing low lands, marshes, wetlands, drainage areas, water bodies and waterways necessary to implement the Wayzata Comprehensive Stormwater Management Plan is essential to the health, safety and general welfare or the City's residents. The Wayzata Comprehensive Stormwater Management Plan is on file at Wayzata City Hall and was adopted on August 2, 1988, by the Wayzata City Council.

A.

All wetlands and their flood envelopes within the City of Wayzata are hereby designated as part of the Wayzata Wetlands Overlay District, and the requirements set forth in this Ordinance shall govern development and other activities within these districts.

B.

The Wetland System District Map shall be on file in the office of the City Engineer Department, together with all explanatory matter thereon or attached thereto, and declared to be part of this Ordinance. The map shall be open to inspection by the public during normal business hours of the City Hall.

C.

The Wayzata Wetlands Overlay District shall be applied to and superimposed upon all zoning districts as contained herein as existing or amended by the text and map of this Ordinance. The regulations and requirements imposed by the Wayzata Wetlands Overlay District shall be in addition to those established for districts which jointly apply. Under the joint application of districts, the more restrictive requirements shall apply.

D.

The boundaries of wetlands and flood envelopes within the City may be changed by the City Council when it can be demonstrated by registered site survey and topographic work, and hydrologic analysis performed by registered engineer or land surveyor that the established boundaries shown on the Wetland System District Map are incorrect.

A.

Conservation of soil, vegetation, water, fish and wildlife.

B.

Scientific research and educational activities teach principles of ecology and conservation.

C.

General outdoor recreation and leisure activities that are not inconsistent with the intent of this Ordinance and do not adversely affect the district's wildlife habitat or stormwater runoff quality enhancement values as measured by methodologies used in the "Stormwater Management Plan for the City of Wayzata."

The following operations and uses are allowed in the Wetlands Overlay District by conditional use permit.

A.

Excavation or filling within any Wetland Overlay District which, as determined by the City Council, will mitigate or enhance previous actions, activities or conditions in an altered wetland. This may include actions which will improve the condition of wildlife habitat and/or stormwater runoff values in the wetlands district. Conditional uses within the Wetland Overlay District must also meet the standards outlined in Section 992.07.

The following operations and uses are permitted in the flood envelope as a matter of right, subject to any other applicable codes, ordinances or law:

A.

Grazing, farming, nurseries, gardening, and harvesting of crops.

B.

Residential uses such as lawns, gardens, and play areas, but excluding structures and buildings except those permitted as conditional uses (Section 992.06).

C.

Parking for commercial uses, provided that the established quality and quantity standards for specific wetlands will be maintained or exceeded.

The following operations and uses are allowed in the flood envelope by conditional use permit which require processing pursuant to Chapter 904 of this Ordinance:

A.

Digging, dredging, extraction of any material from water bodies, water courses, wetlands, floodplain or natural drainage system.

B.

Creation of ponds, dam or relocation of any water course or changes to the natural drainage system.

C.

Storage yards for equipment, machinery or materials.

D.

Accessory buildings or structures.

E.

Railroads, streets, parking lots, bridges, utility transmission lines and pipelines.

F.

The construction or placement of structures for human habitation on fill, provided the requirements of Section 992.07 are met.

No conditional use permit shall be issued unless the following provisions are complied with:

A.

No structure (temporary or permanent), fill (including fill for roads and levies), obstruction, storage of materials or equipment, or other uses may be allowed as a conditional use, which acting alone or in combination with existing or reasonably anticipated future uses, adversely affects the capacity of a floodway or wetland, or increases water levels beyond permitted (see Section 992.07.D) levels.

B.

No permit shall be issued with results in a use or obstruction detrimental to the protection of surface and groundwater supplies.

C.

No permit shall be issued which will result in an obstruction or use incompatible with preservation of those natural land forms, vegetation and adjacent marshes and wet areas contiguous to stormwater detention areas or channels in the City which are principal factors in the management of surface water runoff throughout the year.

D.

No permit shall be issued which results in development of land in stormwater detention areas necessary for temporary withholding of excessive runoff of surface water, or of land and water areas which provide groundwater infiltration, and which development will or may decrease the capacity or to provide such groundwater infiltration.

E.

No permit shall be issued unless the proposed use, alteration or obstruction has received the approval of all governmental bodies having jurisdiction over such use or obstruction, including the appropriate watershed district, as the case may be, if such approval is required by the statutes, ordinances, rules or regulations applicable to such governmental bodies, and to such use or obstruction.

F.

Structures shall be firmly anchored to prevent flotation which may result in damage to other structures and/or restriction of bridge openings and other narrow sections of water courses.

G.

Electrical and heating equipment shall be installed at or above the regulatory flood protection elevation for the particular area or adequately flood proofed in accordance with the State Building Code.

H.

Fill. The placement of fill in any area within the flood envelope of the Wayzata Wetlands Overlay District or stormwater detention basin shall be governed by the following limitations:

1.

Fill shall be limited to what is needed to grade or landscape for the proposed use, and shall not in any way obstruct the flow of stormwaters.

2.

Spoil from dredging or sand and gravel operations shall not be deposited unless it can be done in accordance with H.1. above.

3.

Fill shall be protected from erosion by vegetative cover.

4.

Fill within the flood envelope will be permitted if compensating flood volume is provided within the Wetlands Overlay District and if, based upon submission of a Wetland Systems Impact Plan (see Section 71.7.2), the City agrees that environmental degradation will not occur. A percentage of total allowable encroachment into the flood envelope of the Wetlands Overlay District will be allocated to riparian land owners in amounts of proportional to their percentage of ownership of the total flood envelope area with:

a)

A total maximum allowable rise in the calculated flood elevation of 0.5 feet, or

b)

A total increase in the calculated flood elevation rising to an elevation that is 1.0 foot below the elevation where structural damage of existing structures would occur, whichever is less.

5.

It is the responsibility of the applicant to obtain written approval for filling in the Wayzata Wetlands Overlay District or stormwater basins from all property owners whose lands would be impacted by the subsequent rise of the established 100-year flood elevation prior to receiving approval of filling by the City.

I.

Accessory Structures. Accessory structures permitted as a conditional use shall be governed by the following limitations:

1.

Such structures shall not be designed for human habitation.

2.

Such structures, if permitted, shall be constructed and placed on the building site so as to offer the minimum obstruction to stormwaters:

a)

Whenever possible, such structures shall be constructed with the longitudinal axis parallel to the direction of stormwater flows.

3.

Such structures shall be flood proofed in accordance with the State Building Code.

4.

Accessory structures connected by tunnel, walkway, or a similar conveyance shall be considered part of the principal use, and shall not be permitted within the flood envelope.

J.

Structure on Lakes, Ponds, or Flowages. For lakes, ponds or flowages, no structure, except boathouses, piers and docks, shall be placed at an elevation such that the lowest floor, including basement floor, is less than 2½ feet above the calculated 100-year frequency flood elevation. The regulatory flood protection elevation shall serve as the highest known water level. In those instances where sufficient data on known high water levels are not available, the elevation of the line of permanent shoreland vegetation shall be used as the estimated high water elevation. When fill is required to meet this elevation, the fill shall be allowed to stabilize, and construction shall not begin until the property has been inspected and approved by the Building Official.

K.

Storage of Materials or Equipment Within the Wayzata Wetlands Overlay District. The storage or processing of materials that are, in time of flooding or rain inundation, flammable, explosive or potentially injurious to human, animal or plant life is prohibited.

L.

Wetland Systems Impact Plan.

1.

As part of the application for a conditional use permit for a use within the Wayzata Wetlands Overlay District, the applicant must furnish a Wetland Systems Impact Plan. A copy of said plan shall be transmitted to an engineer or other expert person or agency, as designated by the City for technical assistance in determining whether the proposed use is consistent with the water quality and wildlife habitat recommendations contained in the "Stormwater Management Plan for the City of Wayzata" and, therefore, permissible within the Wayzata Wetlands Overlay District or stormwater detention basin.

2.

Contents of Plan. A Wetland Systems Impact Plan shall contain such of the following information as is deemed necessary by the City to fulfill the purposes of the Wetland Systems Impact Plan:

a)

Said plan shall identify the calculated 100-year frequency flood elevation, and shall set forth proposed provisions for erosion and sediment control, water management, impacts on drainage and floodplain uses, maintenance of landscape features and any additional matters intended to improve or maintain the quality of the environment.

b)

Evidence that the proposed development in the Wetland Systems Overlay District shall not reduce the district's scores for wildlife habitat and stormwater runoff quality enhancement values as calculated by methodologies presented in the "Stormwater Management Plan for the City of Wayzata" under conditions of the 100-year frequency (one percent probability) flood event.

c)

Evidence that a development within the Wetland Systems Overlay District serves to maintain or increase the wetland criteria scores through compensatory measures, and provided that all other requirements are met.

d)

Affirmatively set forth the changes requested by the applicant and affirmatively disclose what, if any, change will be made in the natural conditions of the earth (including loss or change of earth ground cover or destruction of trees, if any) or upon lakes, streams, water courses and marshes, low lands and wetlands in the area.

e)

Evidence that the plan minimizes tree removal, ground cover change, loss of natural vegetation, and grade changes as much as possible and affirmatively provides for the relocation or replanting of as many trees as possible, which are proposed to be removed.

f)

Evidence that the applicant has, to the greatest extent possible, eliminated potential pollution, erosion, siltation, or flooding, which may result from the proposed development.

M.

Approved conditional use permits shall not adversely impact environmentally sensitive areas. This shall include, but not be limited to, spawning beds, nesting areas or habitat of endangered or threatened species. The City may limit the implementation season of an approved conditional use permit so as not to disturb or interfere with nesting or spawning seasons of the wildlife within the Wetland Overlay District or flood envelope.

N.

Application for a conditional use permit shall comply with the standards and provisions outlined in Chapter 904 of this Ordinance.

A.

All applications for variances to the requirements of this Ordinance shall comply with and follow the procedures and criteria for approval as outlined in Chapter 905 of this Ordinance.

B.

The City Council may grant a variance from the requirements of this Ordinance is the proposed plan of the applicant provides mitigative measures to recreate, to an equal or greater degree, the environmental and hydrological function of the wetland area that is proposed to be altered.