A. Jurisdiction. The provisions of this chapter apply to land within the river corridor boundary as described in the State Register, volume 43, pages 508 to 519 and shown on the City's official zoning or MRCCA maps on file with the City.
B. Enforcement. The city zoning administrator and public works director are jointly responsible for the administration and enforcement of this chapter. Any violation of its provisions or failure to comply with any of its requirements, including violations of conditions and safeguards established in connection with grants of variances or conditional uses, constitutes a misdemeanor and is punishable as defined by law. Violations of this chapter can occur regardless of whether or not a permit is required for a regulated activity listed in Section 12-3-3.
C. Severability. If any section, clause, provision, or portion of this chapter is judged unconstitutional or invalid by a court of competent jurisdiction, the remainder of this chapter shall not be affected thereby.
D. Abrogation and Greater Restrictions. It is not intended by this chapter to repeal, abrogate, or impair any existing easements, covenants, or deed restrictions. However, where this chapter imposes greater restrictions, the provisions of this chapter shall prevail. To the extent any other chapters or sections are inconsistent with this chapter, the provisions of this chapter shall prevail.
E. Underlying Zoning. Uses and standards of underlying zoning districts apply except where standards of this chapter are more restrictive.
F. Definitions. Unless specifically defined below, words or phrases used in this chapter shall be interpreted to give them the same meaning they have in common usage and to give this chapter its most reasonable application. For the purpose of this chapter, the words "must" and "shall" are mandatory and not permissive. All distances, unless otherwise specified, are measured horizontally.
ACCESS PATH: | An area designated to provide ingress and egress to public waters. |
ADJACENT: | Having a boundary that physically touches or adjoins. |
AGRICULTURAL USE: | A use having the meaning given under Minnesota Statutes, section 40A.02. |
ALTERNATIVE DESIGN: | Subdivision design methods such as conservation design, transfer of development density, or similar zoning and site design techniques that protect open space and natural areas. |
BIOLOGICAL AND ECOLOGICAL FUNCTIONS: | The functions of vegetation in stabilizing soils and slopes, retaining and filtering runoff, providing habitat, and recharging groundwater. |
BLUFF: | A natural topographic feature having: A. A slope that rises at least twenty-five feet (25') where the grade of the slope averages eighteen percent (18%) or greater, measured over any horizontal distance of twenty-five feet (25'), from the toe of the slope to the top of the slope. Where the slope begins below the ordinary high water level, the ordinary high water level is the toe of the slope [See Figure 1 - below]; or FIGURE 1: BLUFF DIAGRAM  B. A natural escarpment or cliff with a slope that rises at least ten feet (10') above the ordinary high water level or toe of the slope, whichever is applicable, to the top of the slope, with a slope of seventy-five degrees (75o) or greater [See Figure 2 - below]. FIGURE 2: NATURAL ESCARPMENT BLUFF AND BLUFF IMPACT ZONE DIAGRAM  |
BLUFF IMPACT ZONE (BIZ): | A bluff and land located within twenty-feet (20') of the bluff. See Figure 2 for natural escarpment or cliff example and Figure 3 for more common bluff example. FIGURE 3: TOE, TOP AND BLUFF IMPACT ZONE DIAGRAM  |
BLUFFLINE: | A line delineating the top of the bluff. More than one bluffline may be encountered proceeding landward from the river. See Figure 2 for natural escarpment or cliff example and Figure 3 for more common bluff example. |
BLUFF, TOE OF: | A line along the bottom of a bluff, requiring field verification, such that the slope above the line exceeds eighteen percent (18%) and the slope below the line is eighteen percent (18%) or less, measured over a horizontal distance of twenty-five feet (25'). See Figure 2 for natural escarpment of cliff example and Figure 3 for more common bluff example. |
BLUFF, TOP OF: | A line along the top of a bluff, requiring field verification, such that the slope below the line exceeds eighteen percent (18%) and the slope above the line is eighteen percent (18%) or less, measured over a horizontal distance of twenty-five feet (25'). See Figures 1 and 2. |
BUILDABLE AREA: | The area upon which structures may be placed on a lot or parcel of land and excludes areas needed to meet requirements for setback, rights-of-way, bluff impact zones, historic properties, wetlands, designated floodways, land below the ordinary high water level of public waters, and other unbuildable areas. |
BUILDING: | A structure with two or more outside rigid walls and a fully secured roof and affixed to a permanent site. |
CERTIFICATE OF COMPLIANCE: | A document written after a compliance inspection, certifying that the development complies with applicable requirements at the time of the inspection. |
CITY: | The City of Mendota Heights, Minnesota. |
COMMISSIONER: | The commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. |
CONDITIONAL USE: | A use having the meaning given under Minnesota Statutes, chapters 462. |
CONSERVATION DESIGN: | A pattern of subdivision that is characterized by grouping lots within a portion of a parcel, where the remaining portion of the parcel is permanently protected as open space. |
CONVENTIONAL SUBDIVISION: | A pattern of subdivision that is characterized by lots that are spread regularly throughout a parcel in a lot and block design. |
DECK: | A horizontal, unenclosed, aboveground level structure open to the sky, with or without attached railings, seats, trellises, or other features, attached or functionally related to a principal use or site. |
DEVELOPER: | Has the meaning given under Minnesota Statutes, section 116G.03. |
DEVELOPMENT: | Has the meaning given under Minnesota Statutes, section 116G.03. |
DISCRETIONARY ACTION: | An action under this chapter related to land use that requires a public hearing by local ordinance or statute, such as preliminary plats, final subdivision plats, planned unit developments, conditional use permits, interim use permits, variances, appeals, and rezoning. |
DOCK: | Has the meaning given under Minnesota Rules, chapter 6115. |
ELECTRIC POWER FACILITIES: | Equipment and associated facilities for generating electric power or devices for converting wind energy to electrical energy as identified and defined under Minnesota Statutes, section 216E. |
ESSENTIAL SERVICES: | Underground or overhead gas, electrical, communications, steam, or water distribution, collection, supply, or disposal systems, including storm water. Essential services include poles, wires, mains, drains, pipes, conduits, cables, fire alarm boxes, traffic signals, hydrants, navigational structures, aviation safety facilities or other similar equipment and accessories in conjunction with the systems. Essential services does not include buildings, treatment works as defined in Minnesota Statutes, chapter 115.01, electric power facilities or transmission services. |
FEEDLOT: | Has the meaning given for animal feedlots under Minnesota Rules, chapter 7020. |
FLOODPLAIN: | Has the meaning given under Minnesota Rules, chapter 6120. |
FULLY RECONSTRUCTS: | The reconstruction of an existing impervious surface that involves site grading and subsurface excavation so that soil is exposed. Mill and overlay and other resurfacing activities are not considered fully reconstructed. |
HARD-SURFACE TRAIL: | A trail surfaced in asphalt, crushed aggregate, or other hard surface, for multi-purpose use, as determined by local, regional, or state agency plans. |
HISTORIC PROPERTY: | An archaeological site, standing structure, site, district, or other property that is: A. Listed in the National Register of Historic Places or the State Register of Historic Places or locally designated as a historic site under Minnesota Statutes, chapter 471; B. determined to meet the criteria for eligibility to the National Register of Historic Places or the State Register of Historic Places as determined by the director of the Minnesota Historical Society; or C. An unplatted cemetery that falls under the provisions of Minnesota Statutes, chapter 307, in consultation with the Office of the State Archaeologist. |
IMPERVIOUS SURFACE: | A constructed hard surface that either prevents or retards the entry of water into the soil and causes water to run off the surface in greater quantities and at an increased rate of flow than prior to development. Examples include rooftops, decks, sidewalks, patios, parking lots, storage areas, and driveways, including those with concrete, asphalt, or gravel surfaces. |
INTENSIVE VEGETATION CLEARING: | The removal of all or a majority of the trees or shrubs in a contiguous patch, strip, row, or block. |
INTERIM USE: | Has the meaning given under Minnesota Statutes, section 462. |
KEYSTONE SPECIES: | A species on which other species in an ecosystem largely depend, such that if it were removed the ecosystem would change drastically. |
LAND ALTERATION: | An activity that exposes the soil or changes the topography, drainage, or cross section of the land, excluding gardening or similar minor soil disturbances. |
LOCAL GOVERNMENT: | Counties, cities, and townships. |
LOT: | Has the meaning given under Minnesota Rules, chapter 6120. |
LOT WIDTH: | The shortest distance between lot lines measured at both the ordinary high-water level and at the required structure setback from the ordinary high-water level. [See Figure 4 - below]. FIGURE 4: LOT WIDTH DIAGRAM  |
MARINA: | Has the meaning given under Minnesota Rules, chapter 6115. |
MISSISSIPPI RIVER CORRIDOR CRITICAL AREA (MRCCA): | The area within the River Corridor Boundary (refer to separate definition noted herein). |
MISSISSIPPI RIVER CORRIDOR CRITICAL AREA PLAN: | A chapter in the City of Mendota Heights comprehensive plan. |
MOORING FACILITY: | Has the meaning given under Minnesota Rules, chapter 6115.0170. |
NATIVE PLANT COMMUNITY: | A plant community that has been identified as part of the Minnesota Biological Survey or biological survey issued or adopted by a local, state, or federal agency. |
NATIVE VEGETATION: | Vegetation comprised of plant species, other than noxious weeds or invasive vegetation, that are indigenous to a region, and which reasonably could occur or flourish naturally on a site. |
NATURAL-SURFAC E TRAIL: | A trail composed of native soil and rock or compacted granular stone, primarily intended for hiking, equestrian, or mountain bike use, as determined by local, regional, or state agency plans. |
NATURAL VEGETATION: | Any combination of ground cover (excluding any vegetation considered invasive), understory, and tree canopy that, while it may have been altered by human activity, continues to stabilize soils, retain and filter runoff, provide habitat, and recharge groundwater. |
NONCONFORMITY: | The meaning given under Minnesota Statutes, section 394.22. |
NONMETALLIC MINING: | The construction, reconstruction, repair, relocation, expansion, or removal of any facility for the extraction, stockpiling, storage, disposal, or reclamation of nonmetallic minerals such a stone, sand, and gravel. Nonmetallic mining does not include ancillary facilities such as access roads, bridges, culverts, and water level control structures. For purposes of this subpart, "facility" includes all mine pits, quarries, stockpiles, basins, processing structures and equipment, and any structures that drain or divert public waters to allow mining. |
OFF-PREMISES ADVERTISING SIGNS: | Signs that direct attention to a product, service, business, or entertainment venue that is not exclusively related to the premises where the sign is located. |
ORDINARY HIGH-WATER LEVEL (OHWL): | Has the meaning given under Minnesota Statutes, section 103G.005. |
OVERLAY DISTRICT: | A zoning district that is applied over one or more previously established zoning districts, establishing additional or stricter standards and criteria for covered properties in addition to those of the underlying zoning district. Overlay districts are often used to protect historic features and natural resources such as shoreland or floodplain. |
PARCEL: | Has the meaning given under Minnesota Statutes, section 116G.03. |
PATIO: | A constructed hard surface located at ground level with no railings and open to the sky. |
PICNIC SHELTER: | A roofed structure open on all sides, accessory to a recreational use. |
PLANNED UNIT DEVELOPMENT (PUD): | A method of land development that merges zoning and subdivision controls, allowing developers to plan and develop a large area as a single entity, characterized by a unified site design, a mix of structure types and land uses, and/or phasing of development over a number of years. Planned unit development includes any conversion of existing structures and land uses that utilize this method of development. |
PLAT: | Has the meaning given under Minnesota Statutes, sections 505 and 515B. |
PORT: | A water transportation complex established and operated under the jurisdiction of a port authority according to Minnesota Statutes, chapter 458. |
PRIMARY CONSERVATION AREAS (PCA): | Resources and features, including shore impact zones, bluff impact zones, floodplains, wetlands, gorges, areas of confluence with tributaries, natural drainage routes, underground springs, unstable soils and bedrock, native plant communities, cultural and historic properties, and significant existing vegetative stands, tree canopies, and other resources identified in local government plans. |
PRIVATE FACILITIES: | Private roads, driveways, and parking areas, private water access and viewing facilities, decks and patios in setback areas, and private signs. |
PROFESSIONAL ENGINEER: | An engineer licensed to practice in Minnesota. |
PUBLIC FACILITIES: | Public utilities, public transportation facilities, and public recreational facilities. |
PUBLIC RECREATION FACILITIES: | Recreational facilities provided by the state or a local government and dedicated to public use, including parks, scenic overlooks, observation platforms, trails, docks, fishing piers, picnic shelters, water access ramps, and other similar water-oriented public facilities used for recreation. |
PUBLIC RIVER CORRIDOR VIEWS (PRCVs): | Views toward the river from public parkland, historic properties, and public overlooks, as well as views toward bluffs from the ordinary high water level of the opposite shore, as seen during the summer months and documented in the MRCCA chapter of the comprehensive plan. |
PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION FACILITIES: | All transportation facilities provided by federal, state, or local government and dedicated to public use, such as roadways, transit facilities, railroads, and bikeways. |
PUBLIC UTILITIES: | Electric power facilities, essential services, and transmission services. |
PUBLIC WATERS: | Has the meaning given under Minnesota Statutes, section 103G.005. |
PUBLIC WORKS DIRECTOR: | A person designated by the City Administrator and approved by the City Council as being jointly responsible for the administration of this chapter. |
READILY VISIBLE: | Land and development that are easily seen from the ordinary high-water level of the opposite shore during summer months. |
RESOURCE AGENCY: | A Federal, state, regional, or local agency that engages in environmental, natural, or cultural resource protection or restoration activities, including planning, implementation, and monitoring. |
RETAINING WALL: | A vertical or nearly vertical structure constructed of mortar and rubble masonry, rock, or stone regardless of size, vertical timber pilings, horizontal timber planks with piling supports, sheet pilings, poured concrete, concrete blocks, or other durable materials. |
ROCK RIPRAP: | Natural coarse rock placed or constructed to armor shorelines, streambeds, bridge abutments, pilings and other shoreline structures against scour or water or ice erosion. |
RIVER CORRIDOR BOUNDARY: | The boundary approved and adopted by the Metropolitan Council under Minnesota Statutes, section 116G.06, as approved and adopted by the legislature in Minnesota Statutes, section 116G.15, and as legally described in the Sate Register, volume 43, pages 508 to 518. |
RIVER-DEPENDENT USE: | The use of land for commercial, industrial, or utility purposes, where access to and use of a public water feature is an integral part of the normal conduct of business and where the use is dependent on shoreline facilities. |
SCOUR: | The localized removal of material from the streambed by flowing water, and is the opposite of fill. |
SELECTIVE VEGETATION REMOVAL: | The removal of isolated individual trees or shrubs that are not in a contiguous patch, strip, row, or block and that does not substantially reduce the tree canopy or understory cover. |
SETBACK: | A separation distance measured horizontally. |
SHORE IMPACT ZONE (SIZ): | Land located between the ordinary high-water level of public waters and a line parallel to it at a setback of fifty percent (50%) of the required structure setback or, for agricultural use fifty feet (50') landward of the ordinary high water level. [See Figure 5 - below]. FIGURE 5: SHORE IMPACT ZONE DIAGRAM  |
SHORELINE FACILITIES: | Facilities that require a location adjoining public waters for ingress and egress, loading and unloading, and public water intake and outflow, such as barge facilities, port facilities, commodity loading and unloading equipment, watercraft lifts, marinas, short-term watercraft mooring facilities for patrons, and water access ramps. Structures that would be enhanced by a shoreline location, but do not require a location adjoining public waters as part of their function, are not shoreline facilities, such as restaurants, bait shops, and boat dealerships. |
STEEP SLOPE: | A natural topographic feature with an average slope of twelve percent (12%) to eighteen percent (18%), measured over a horizontal distance equal to or greater than fifty feet (50'), and any slopes greater than eighteen percent (18%) that are not bluffs. |
STORM WATER MANAGEMENT FACILITIES: | Facilities for the collection, conveyance, treatment, or disposal of storm water. |
STRUCTURE: | Anything constructed or installed or portable, except for aerial or underground utility lines such as sewer, electric, telephone, or gas lines, and utility line towers, poles, and other supporting appurtenances, the use of which requires a location on a parcel of land. It includes a movable structure while it is located on land which can be used for housing, business, commercial, agricultural, or office purposes either temporarily or permanently. Structure also includes fences, decks, billboards, swimming pools, and advertising signs. |
SUBDIVISION: | Has the meaning given under Minnesota Statutes, section 462.352. |
SUBSURFACE SEWAGE TREATMENT SYSTEM (SSTS): | Has the meaning given under Minnesota Rules, part 7080.1100. |
TRANSMISSION SERVICES: | A. Electric power lines, cables, pipelines, or conduits that are: 1. Used to transport power between two points, as identified and defined under Minnesota Statutes, section 216E.01, subdivision 4; or 2. For mains or pipelines for gas, liquids, or solids in suspension, used to transport gas, liquids, or solids in suspension between two points; and B. Telecommunication lines, cables, pipelines, or conduits. |
TREELINE: | The more or less continuous line formed by the tops of trees in a wooded area when viewed from a particular point. The treeline is determined during all seasons as if under full foliage. |
UNDERGROUND SPRING: | A place where water moving underground finds an opening to the land surface and emerges, sometimes as just a trickle, and in some cases only after a storm event, and in some cases seen as a continuous flow of water. |
VARIANCE: | Any modification or variation of official controls that a municipality has approved in accordance with Minnesota Statutes, section 462.357, subd. 6(2). |
WATER ACCESS RAMP: | A boat ramp, carry-down site, boarding dock, and approach road, or other access that allows launching and removal of a boat, canoe, or other watercraft with or without a vehicle and trailer. |
WATER-ORIENTED ACCESSORY STRUCTURE: | A small building or other improvement, except stairways, fences, docks, and retaining walls, that, because of the relationship of its use to public waters, needs to be located closer to public waters than the normal structure setback. Examples include gazebos, screen houses, fish houses, pump houses, and detached decks and patios. |
WATER QUALITY IMPACT ZONE: | Land within the shore impact zone or within fifty feet (50') of the OHWL of the river, whichever is greater, and land within fifty feet (50') of a public water, wetland, or natural drainage route. |
WETLAND: | Has the meaning given under Minnesota Statutes, section 103G.005. |
WHARF: | Has the meaning given under Minnesota Rules, part 6115.0170. |
ZONING ADMINISTRATOR: | A person designated by the City Administrator and approved by the City Council as being jointly responsible for the administration of this chapter. (Ord. 568, 9-23-2021) |