District plans to amend its Watershed Management Plan

Posted: 02/08/18

The Lower Minnesota River Watershed District is undertaking a major amendment of its Watershed Management Plan in response to 1) requests from the District's Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) and 2) the updating of water governance documents by most of the municipalities within and adjacent to the District. The Plan amendment will focus on the Standards in Section 3 and the Implementation Program in Section 4 of the current Third Water Management Plan. The Plan amendment process will comply with Minnesota Rules 8410.0140 and Minnesota Statue 103B.231, subdivision 11.

The District released the draft Statement of Need and Reasonableness (SONAR) February 7, 2018.  The SONAR explains the District's rationale for the changes made to the Plan through the Amendment Process.  The most recent version of the SONAR (May 2018) can be found below.

The schedule for the Plan consists of TAC meetings and communications with the Board of Water and Soil Resources (BWSR), as follows. Completed meetings and communications have links to documents that describe the events.

Proposed Draft Plan Amendment

• Executive Summary and Introduction Draft
• Amended Plan: Section 1 Draft
• Amended Plan Section 2 Draft
• Amended Plan Section 3 Draft
• Amended Plan Section 4 Draft
• Amended Plan Section 5 Draft
• Amended Plan Section 6 Draft
• Appendix K: Draft Standards 
• Draft Implementation Plan
• Draft SONAR (Statement of Need and Reasonableness)

Public hearing and Manager's workshops presentation

• October 25, 2017 public hearing presentation
• October 25, 2017 public hearing meeting minutes
• Power Point presented October 25, 2017 by city of Bloomington
• March 21, 2018 Manager workshop
• April 18, 2018 public hearing presentation

Comments received and responses

• Comments received through October 15, 2017 and draft responses
• Comments received through January, 2018 and draft responses
• Comments received through March 31, 2018 and draft responses

Stakeholder/Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) meetings

• Session 1: 8 February 2017 Presentation
• Session 2: 22 February 2017 Presentation (MRCCA rules excerpt)
• Draft of Proposed Bluff Standard (produced at Session 2)
• Session 3: 8 March 2017 Presentation
• High Value Resource Area maps (produced at Session 3)
• Session 4: 22 March 2017 Presentation
• Bluff Impact Zone maps (produced for Session 4)
• Session 5: January 30, 2018 Presentation
• Draft Revised Bluff and Steep Slopes Standard

BWSR communications/timeline

• Submit Petition with Redline Draft to BWSR for 60-day review: July 5, 2017
• Respond to Comments, Host Public Hearing and Update the Plan: September - October 2017
• Host Public Information meetings: February - March 2018
• Reconvene Public Hearing and Update the Plan: April - May 2018
• Submit Final Draft to BWSR for 90-day Review: May-June 2018