NOT WATER UNDER THE BRIDGE...

At the January 9, 2017, Town Board meeting, the Town Supervisors passed a resolution to return the watershed permitting authority to the Vermillion River Watershed Joint Powers Organization (VRWJPO), thus reinstating the Township's original position on this issue. As you may recall, Eureka was the only township out of the thirteen in Dakota County which declined to adopt the Watershed Ordinance in the first place. It did, however, adopt the Watershed Water Plan, which it is required to do.

I believe that there was an erroneous thought by some at that time that if Eureka did not adopt the ordinance, then the ordinance requirements would just "go away." This was and is erroneous thinking because all this legislation "flows" from the Clean Water Act passed in 1972. What that faulty thinking may have been based on was the fact that once one Local Government Unit (LGU) dropped out of the Watershed Management Organization (WMO), the body was defunct. However, the the powers exercised by that body would still be exercised, in the Vermillion's case by a Joint Powers Organization of Scott and Dakota Counties. In contrast, the North Cannon River is still managed by a WMO. Your Township representative to that body has a direct vote in how that body moves forward, within certain requirements. The VRWJPO Board is what has that vote for the Vermillion.

I just attended the January meeting of the JPO Board. Present were Dakota County Commissioners Slavik (Chair) and Holzberg, Scott County Commissioner Wolf, watershed staff, Assistant Dakota County Attorney Brosnahan, Manager Brian Watson of the SWCD, and a few more people in the audience. At this meeting, the JPO Board passed their resolution taking back the watershed permitting authority for Eureka.

Note that this is the permitting authority for the watershed portion of permitting, NOT the Township's permitting under its zoning authority. This means that permit applicants first will be required to receive a permit from the VRWJPO before they come to the Township for its permit.

Two things are important to note:

1. The Township is not to pass any permit contingent upon the VRWJPO's permit. If an applicant has not received the JPO's permit first, Eureka will not go ahead with its permitting process. In the past, there have actually been instances whereby a Township permit was passed contingent upon the other, but the landowner proceeded with excavating before receiving the watershed permit as he was supposed to. Oversight appears to have been lost. Thus the order of permits.

2. The VRWJPO meets on the fourth Thursday of each month, at which time permits can be approved by the Board. The Commissioners briefly discussed the future possibility of approving the simplest permits administratively (outside of their monthly meeting), but if and until that procedure is actually implemented (more discussion to follow), applicants must have their paperwork in in time to be processed at that fourth-Thursday meeting before coming to the Township. This is effective now.

If a landowner plans appropriately, this process can be smooth and not take up extra time. Conversely, submitting paperwork, say, the day after the VRWJPO Board meeting would naturally extend the time involved for approval as the paperwork would have to wait until the next month's meeting before even coming to the Township. That element is largely in the hands of the applicant.

I believe the rationale behind this move is that Town Boards come and go; Planning Commissions come and go. The VRWJPO has professionals such as Watershed Specialists who are well-versed in the Vermillion Rules, Water Plan, Ordinance and the technicalities and who do not have to be repeatedly trained as they enter office such as local officials would have to be.

Therefore, Vermillion River Watershed permitting will be handled by the JPO in a process similar to how the County deals with Shoreland and Floodplain. The latter is quite familiar to residents.



The VRWJPO is also going to look more closely at how other townships have been handling watershed permitting as it recognizes that the process has not been consistently enforced by the various bodies. This underlines that it may be best for clean water that the VRWJPO handle the permitting, rather than pass it to the townships whose roster of officials is subject to change every year.