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RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING APPLICATION FOR GRANT FUNDING FROM THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY TO CONDUCT AN 18-MONTH STUDY AND PUBLIC REVIEW OF THE POSSIBILITY OF DESIGNATING A SAINT LOUIS RIVER NATURAL AREA.
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CITY PROPOSAL:
RESOLVED, that the city of Duluth hereby supports application for grant funding from the Environmental Protection Agency for up to $250,000 to support an 18-month study and public review process examining the possibility of creating a St. Louis River Natural Area under the Duluth Natural Areas Program.
Statement of Purpose
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE: This resolution authorizes application for grant funding from the Environmental Protection Agency for up to $250,000 to support an 18-month study and public review process examining the possibility of creating a St. Louis River Natural Area under the Duluth Natural Areas Program.
The Duluth Natural Areas Program was established by ordinance in 2002 to give city council a locally controlled mechanism to protect properties of special environmental significance. The properties to be studied for potential inclusion in a potential St. Louis River Natural Area include an Audubon Important Bird Area, extensive wild rice habitat, and most of the remaining coastal wetlands on the Minnesota side of the St. Louis River Estuary. The vast majority of the candidate properties are wetlands and bluffs with limited or no development value.
Per city Ordinance, the study and public review process will proceed in two phases. The six-month phase one, anticipated to begin in March of 2017, will focus on development of a St. Louis River Natural Area nomination that will identify specific properties and describe how those properties meet the Duluth Natural Areas Program criteria. The nomination will be submitted to the planning commission and the city council whose approval would provisionally create the St. Louis River Natural Area.
The twelve-month phase two, anticipated to begin in August 2017, will focus on development of a management plan for the nominated properties describing how the properties shall be restored, used, and managed. The new St. Louis River Natural Area would only become permanent with planning commission and city council approval of the management plan.
In support of the study and public review process, the EPA grant would fund extensive stakeholder consultation, public engagement, and technical analysis. Under city of Duluth direction, the nonprofit Minnesota Land Trust will manage technical analysis of the candidate properties that will include natural resource inventories and assessments, development suitability analysis, title review, restoration plan development, and review of relevant local, state, and federal plans, reports, and regulations.
A map showing the areas to be assessed is attached hereto as Exhibit A. The map represents the largest possible extent of the potential St. Louis River Natural Area. In practice, the study and review process is likely to result in exclusion of portions of the study area from the St. Louis River Natural Area nomination. The large majority of the property to be assessed is owned by the city of Duluth or St. Louis County. Some privately owned properties have been included in the assessment area with the consent of the owners.
The outcome of the process will be a plan that:
• Maximizes the conservation and recreation value of riverfront properties that have little or no development value; and
• Increases the development value of adjacent private property.
If approved, the St. Louis River Natural Area would not:
• Restrict the freedom of boaters and sportsmen to travel and fish where they wish;
• Place new limits on the improvement and use of private property; or
• Require any private property owner to sell.