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CENTRAL REGION 1200 WARNER ROAD SAINT PAUL, MN 55106 651-259-5800 Page 1 October 9, 2019 Mike Mrosla Community Development Manager/City Planner 1245 W Highway 96 Arden Hills, MN 55112 RE: Shoreland Classification Status of Johanna, Little Johanna, and Karth Lakes Mike, You contacted me recently by email concerning a discrepancy between the City’s and DNR’s shoreland classification for Lake Johanna (62007800). The City lists the classification of this lake as General Development (GD) and has treated it as such in its shoreland ordinances since the 1980s, while DNR has had it classified as Recreational Development (RD). You wanted to know why this discrepancy existed. In looking through our records, I discovered that in 1984 the City had requested that the shoreland classification for Lake Johanna, as well as Little Johanna Lake (62005800) and Karth Lake (62007200), be changed from their original RD classifications to GD. At that time, the City presented evidence and arguments in support of the reclassification to GD. DNR agreed with the City’s reasoning, and responded with a letter to the City informing them that the request would be approved when DNR received notice of a resolution from the City requesting the reclassification, as required by Minnesota Rule Part 6120.3000 Subpart 3. Unfortunately, DNR has no record of ever receiving the resolution, and therefore DNR did not finalize the classification changes. DNR still concurs with the reasoning supporting the requested reclassifications of these three lakes made in 1984 and is ready to officially adopt the new classifications. However, in order to do so we still require a resolution from the City requesting the change and summarizing the rationale for the reclassification decision. It is possible that the City of Arden Hills passed a resolution and DNR did not receive it or we did and it did not get filed properly. If the City can submit a copy of a past resolution, we would regard that as sufficient. If the City never passed a resolution, we request that the City of Arden Hills do so now as an official statement of its position on this subject, and submit it to DNR. We will then officially change the shoreland classifications of all three lakes to GD. Attached please find copies of the original correspondence, as well as a resolution from another City as an example. Please feel free to contact me if you have additional questions on this. Sincerely, Jenifer Sorensen, East Metro Area Hydrologist MN Department of Natural Resources 1200 Warner Road, St. Paul, MN 55106 651-259-5754; jenifer.sorensen@state.mn.us