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<br />6.Presentation by Capitol Region Watershed District <br /> <br /> Mark Doneux presented information on the background of watershed <br />districts and specific information about Capitol Region Watershed. He is <br />looking for comments from the Commission before November 29 on the <br />new regulations. There’s a public hearing on November 16. New rules <br />will be adopted in December and take effect January, 2006. <br /> <br /> Member Willenbring asked how people could get hold of the regulations <br />to read and see if they had more questions. Mr. Doneux said that the full <br />list is on their website www.capitolregionwd.org. <br /> <br /> Member Willenbring asked who is responsible for getting the permits. <br />Mr. Doneux said typically it’s the owner or developer of the property. <br /> <br /> Deb Bloom asked what they’re anticipating for a review process. Mr. <br />Doneux said they have 60 days to act. <br /> <br /> Member Willenbring asked if Loeb Lake was being monitored for <br />contamination. Mr. Doneux said they have just finished their second year <br />of in-lake sampling, with pretty good results. <br /> <br /> Member Neprash asked about long-term maintenance and whether the <br />watershed will consider a compromise where the City says they will build <br />it and the watershed agrees to educate the homeowners and take care of <br />long-term maintenance. Mr. Doneux said that he couldn’t answer that <br />right here; but if the City is looking for that type of agreement, it should be <br />reflected in their comments and suggestions. <br /> <br /> Member Neprash said that there have been difficulties between cities and <br />Rice Creek Watershed on road issues, and asked if Capitol Region had a <br />technical advisory panel, and if not, would they consider forming one to <br />help work through issues that arise. Mr. Doneux said that St. Paul has <br />requested that a technical panel be put together; but he said he thought <br />once they started implementing the new rules, things would work out and <br />run smoothly. If that’s not the case, they can look into some kind of <br />advisory group at that time. <br /> <br /> Member Neprash said that the potential here is enormous. He saw a <br />presentation of a five-year study done in Burnsville on rain gardens. They <br />were able to infiltrate 82% of the storm water runoff in a neighborhood. <br /> <br /> Member Willenbring said they would have to determine what type of <br />pollutants were contained in the runoff. Mr. Thienes said that the major <br />concern right now is draining the storm water itself. It would take a huge <br />facility to filter all the storm water in the watershed and remove pollutants. <br />The best filter we have is the ground. <br /> <br />Page 2 of 4 <br />