2015.03.04 PREC Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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MEMORANDUM Rice Creek Watershed District Date: February 23, 2015 To: City of New Brighton Sandy Breuer, Director of Parks and Recreation Parks, Recreation & Environmental Commission From: Kyle Axtell, RCWD Water Resource Specialist Subject: Hansen Park Water Quality & Flood Control Project — Concept Plan INTRODUCTION RCWD, the City of New Brighton, and other partners, using funding from the MN Board of Water and Soil Resources' (BWSR) Clean Water Fund, have been diligently working to develop a series of projects aimed at improving water quality in and around Long Lake and reducing regional flooding throughout the Ramsey County Ditches 2, 3 & S (RCD 2/3/S) drainage area in the southwestern portion of the Rice Creek Watershed. One of our key projects is being developed for Hansen Park in the center of the City of New Brighton. The purpose of this agenda item is to introduce this project and its history to the Parks, Recreation & Environmental Commission, explain the concept plans and review the upcoming timelines. RCWD staff will provide a presentation covering the materials provided below. This will be a great time for the Commission to ask questions about the project and provide input to RCWD and City staff. BACKGROUND & DISCUSSION As you may be aware, there are several areas of known flooding problems within the City of New Brighton, particularly around Long Lake. This situation was exacerbated by the extreme rainfall and flooding experienced in July 2011. Following those events, the Cities of New Brighton and Saint Anthony jointly developed an investigation report in 2012 identifying flood -prone areas and a preliminary list of projects that could be pursued to address the lack of flood storage and flood conveyance issues within the cities. This ultimately led to the two Cities formally petitioning the RCWD in 2013 to undertake a Basic Water Management Project in the RCD 2/3/S area identifying flood control and conveyance improvement projects and working with the Cities to build them. The City of Roseville also later joined the petition. Long Lake and Pike Lake are both on Minnesota's impaired waters list. The impairment is for excess nutrients (phosphorus) that cause algae blooms and decreased water clarity, which impact recreational opportunities and alter the ecology of the lakes. As the RCWD began working on the Basic Water Management Project, it also pursued identification of project that would offer water quality improvements as well as flood control. The idea of a project at Hansen Park continually rose to the top of the list. And, through the petition process, the Cities have requested that the RCWD expedite development of the Hansen Park project in advance of the remaining phases of the Basic Water Management Project. Since that time, RCWD has been working diligently with its consulting engineer, Houston Engineering, Inc. (HEI) and City Staff to finalize a concept plan for a proposed set of projects within Hansen Park. We feel the concept is developed enough to present to the Commission (see attached plan sheet). Primary components include a complete dredging and reshaping of Hansen Pond (adds water quality treatment and removes contaminated sediments from within the pond), construction of a new dam and outlet control structure (allows for water level management, adds flood storage capacity), and installation of Page 1