(A) The City of Cologne is located in a section of the Twin Cities seven-county metropolitan area which is experiencing rapid growth.
(B) Providing a means for recycling storm water held in storm water detention ponds is, under certain limited circumstances, a viable and efficient means of recycling the water with overall benefits to the environment in general, and the city’s water facilities specifically.
(C) Removal of storm water from the city’s storm water detention ponds is only viable for large scale irrigation projects which generally provide irrigation to public and quasi-public improvements such as roadway rights-of-way, boulevards, medians, parkways, and trail corridors. To the extent that providing irrigation to public and quasi-public areas, as set forth in the proceeding sentence, is the primary objective of the irrigation system, it is also permissible to provide ancillary benefit to commercial and industrial properties.
(D) Maintenance of an irrigation system which includes both pumping storm water from a city storm water detention pond and constructing a well to provide backup water into the storm water detention pond is a significant undertaking which requires the involvement of a large scale commercial developer or a property owners’ association with the financial strength and resources to obtain appropriate contractors to administer the irrigation system, the pump from the storm water detention pond, and the water well.
(E) In certain limited circumstances, as defined under the terms of this subchapter, both the use of storm water held in the city’s storm water detention ponds and the use of a backup well to provide supplemental water into the storm water detention ponds is appropriate and provides a viable means of recycling storm water for irrigation purposes.
(Ord. 162, passed 9-20-2005)