To the Tidings Newsletter Index Page The Official Newsletter of the Mississippi Headwaters Board

Volume 12, Number 10

December 31,1996

Lake Bemidji Remodeling Dominates MHB Zoning Agenda Remodeling older cabins into year-round homes was the most common zoning action reviewed by the Mississippi Headwaters Board in the past two years. More than half the variances reviewed by the Board for certification originated from lots on Lake Bemidji. None of these lots meet current zoning standards, as they were platted in the 1950s or earlier, before the MHB's rules were adopted by Beltrami County in 1981. Each of the Lake Bemidji variance actions involved modifications to existing dwellings. In four cases, older cabins were being removed to allow construction of newer, and generally, larger homes. In seven cases, additions were being made to older cabins. The remaining variances were split between remodeling garages and bringing individual on-site sewage systems up to code. variances are exceptions to current zoning standards. Along the Mississippi River's first 400 miles, the variance must be granted first by the county and then certified by the Mississippi Headwaters Board. Lake Bemidji is the first of several lakes that the Mississippi River flows through subject to the MHB's rules. About two-thirds of the lake's shoreline is in private ownership; about one-third is held by the State of Minnesota and managed as Lake Bemidji State Park.

Lake Bemidji has about one-tenth the developed parcels in the Mississippi Headwaters but accounts for about one-half the zoning action.

The Mississippi Headwaters Board reviewed 70 zoning actions in 1995 and 1996. Of these, 36 were variances, or exceptions to current rules. According to Minnesota statues, a variance must meet six conditions, which pertain to the land itself. In 1992, the Mississippi Headwaters Board recognized that lots that don't meet current zoning standards are the most likely to require variances. No variances were granted by the eight member counties of the MHB for lots that meet current zoning standards. The MHB has advocated development of alternative zoning standards for nonconforming lots of record. Alternative zoning standards should provide for the basics of river protection - protected buffer zones near the water, acceptable treatment of wastewater and adequate green space - but reduce the number of exceptions that are granted. The MHB has created a data base on nonconforming lots to better monitor zoning activity. There are approximately 1,000 such lots on Lake Bemidji (about 10 percent of the lots in the MHB's eight-county corridor). Forest management plans guiding the removal of timber in the river corridor also occupied by the Board in the past two years. About a dozen such plans were reviewed; half on private property and the remainder split between private and industrial land. Most timber operations guided harvest of mature aspen and jack pine, or were salvage operations following the July 1995 wind storm. All plans followed best management practices to protect water quality, such as limiting harvest within 150 feet of the river and cutting during cold weather season. The MHB did not deny any actions permitted by the counties for the period under review. However, several actions were denied at the county level, or modified to increase conformity to existing rules by county decision makers. The Mississippi Headwaters Board reviews compliance with its rules biennially for the Minnesota Legislature. The report reviewing zoning performance in the Headwaters region and MHB accomplishments in 1995 and 1996 will be released next month. Student Youth Congress Explores Right to Clean Water Young people who measure the health of Minnesota's streams and lakes will gather in St. Paul, April 30. 1997 to report on the health of the state's drainage basins, assess problems that may be identified in those reports, and to introduce to students and teachers visiting from Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia, the people, rivers and governance of Minnesota. Student participants will report on their River Watch programs, and the streams it protects. River Watch measures physical, chemical and biological health of the Mississippi River and its tributaries. Programs exist in 37 communities: Bagley, Beltrami County (two sites), Hubbard County (two sites), Itasca County (three sites), Aitkin County (three sites), Crow Wing County (three sites), Morrison County (three sites), Hennepin County (13 sites), Princeton, Morris, Sauk Rapids, Canby, Elgin-Millville, Cromwell and Long Prairie. Students extended River Watch internationally in September, when 36 students and teachers travelled from Minnesota to the drainage basin of the Tobal River in Chelyabinsk, a state in central Russia. Chelyabinsk straddles the Ural Mountains and drains to the Arctic Ocean. It is home to some of the worst industrial and nuclear pollution in the world. The industrial pollution comes from three centuries of mining and metal working. The nuclear pollution is due to discharges from nuclear weapons manufacturing and site accidents. Russians believe that they are entitled to know how healthy their waters are, two natives of the former Soviet Union told River Watch students in September. “The movement towards democracy began with our citizens asking why all our rivers were polluted,” Roman Kanivetsky, a hydro Geologist now working for the Minnesota Geological Survey, told students in September. Russian students participation is funded by a grant from the United States Information Agency. Sponsorship of the Minnesota River Watch Congress is possible by a grant from the Blandin Foundation, Grand Rapids, MN. For further information about the River Watch Youth Congress, contact the Mississippi Headwaters Board at Phone: 218-547-7263, Fax: 218-547-7376 or E-Mail: 0999mhb@InforMNs.k12.mn.us.

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