(a) EIS documents must be required, prepared, reviewed, financed and determined adequate in accordance with Minnesota Rules 4410.
(b) Supplementing EIS. Under certain circumstances, pursuant to Minnesota Rules 4410.3000, the city may order a supplement to a completed EIS before a development project may be initiated.
(c) If the Community Development Director or City Council determines that an EIS must be prepared, it is at the city's sole discretion to determine the EIS preparation process. The city may choose to prepare the EIS; select a consultant to perform the work; or may allow the applicant to prepare the EIS. The city must review and approve any consultant selected by the applicant. The city may return an incomplete EIS submittal to the applicant, edit the EIS as necessary or request additional information from the applicant until the city accepts the EIS submittal as complete in writing.
(d) All EISs must be prepared under the direction of the Community Development Director and must be reviewed and acted upon by the City Council via resolution.
(e) In addition to the application fee as set forth in City Code Appendix A, the applicant is responsible for all fees associated with the preparation of the EIS including legal and consultant's fees. If the city is preparing the EIS or has selected a consultant to prepare the EIS on the city's behalf, the applicant must agree in writing to provide an escrow to pay for the environmental review in accordance with the requirements of § 21.502.01(h).
(f) When reviewing an EIS, the Community Development Director may suggest design alterations and/or mitigation measures that would lessen the environmental effects of the proposed project. The City Council may require that these design alterations and/or mitigation measures, whenever feasible and consistent with other laws, be incorporated as conditions of approval or request these changes to be incorporated into the site plan to lessen the environmental effects of the proposed project.