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Regular City Council Meeting <br /> Monday,May 5, 2014 <br /> Page 19 <br /> was needed to make that determination. Mr. Culver opined that he would re- <br /> search that, and if not charging it, they should be. <br /> Councilmember Etten noted that cemeteries also had roads, and impervious sur- <br /> faces, and should be reviewed (e.g. major open green spaces versus others). <br /> Councilmember McGehee questioned if the City received any financial benefit <br /> from the Metropolitan Council if it reduced its overall amount of storm water. <br /> Mr. Culver responded that staff could further investigate that. <br /> Public Works Director Duane Schwartz clarified that the savings referenced by <br /> Councilmember McGehee was for water running into the sanitary sewer system <br /> (infiltration and inflow), but that in general, there was no identified credit for re- <br /> ductions in stormwater. <br /> Acting Mayor Laliberte questioned how measurements could be taken for measur- <br /> ing runoff reductions on residential properties or how they would interpret that <br /> data. <br /> Mr. Culver advised that, with the existing storm water management program, any <br /> impervious surface increase over 30% required some type of storm water BMP to <br /> contain any additional runoff from other surfaces. Mr. Culver advised that the <br /> City, and its residents worked with the Ramsey Conservation District to determine <br /> those calculations. Mr. Culver advised that many homeowners had taken the ini- <br /> tiative to build far in excess of those requirements, and should be eligible to re- <br /> ceive a credit for those efforts. <br /> At the request of Acting Mayor Laliberte regarding the definition of rain gardens <br /> (page 2 of the RCA), Mr. Culver advised that initially ditches or other natural are- <br /> as would not be considered as a rain garden, which would be addressed through <br /> the initial certification and future recertification for verification. <br /> At the request of Acting Mayor Laliberte, Mr. Culver clarified that credits would <br /> not be applicable in 2014, but would allow time for the property owners and staff <br /> to go through the process, and internal discussions on how to account credits to <br /> ensure revenue was maintained at a sustainable amount. <br /> Councilmember Willmus questioned how confident staff was that the modeling <br /> would sufficiently decrease future CIP needs going forward. <br /> Mr. Culver responded that there was no specific modeling that a per acre runoff <br /> on site would save x amount of dollars. However, Mr. Culver noted that sites <br /> would start capturing more and more water, allowing the City to spend less and <br /> less money, which would indicate the amount of reduction. As property owners <br /> were encouraged to participate, Mr. Culver opined that it was cheaper for them to <br />