MLA supports the continued inventory process begun by the Board of Soil and Water Resources and the Association of Minnesota Counties. The increase would provide local units of government with additional funds for water management activities and more flexibility to address local priorities such as septic updates, waste system management training, water quality monitoring, development of local sustainable lake management plans, and sealing abandoned well and underground storage tanks. The MLA supports required formal training of appointees to local Planning and Zoning and Boards of Adjustment before they take office. Land use issues and zoning decisions are extremely important for the protection of water quality and environmental issues. Persons making decisions surrounding these issues should be educated on federal and state laws and regulations before they take office and start making important local land use decisions.
LIDs are an excellent tool for local lake management.
Current rules for LID formation require a petition to the county board signed by at least 26 percent of the proposed district property owners. The rules also provide for a reverse petition by 26 percent of property owners that would force an LID formation to a referendum, a very involved and costly process. To facilitate the establishment of more LIDs, the MLA will support a rules revision that would require 51 percent or more of the property owners to sign a formation petition and eliminate the reverse petition provisions. The LCMR oversees the distribution of money from the Minnesota Environmental Trust Fund, to which 40 percent of the net proceeds of lottery ticket sales is invested as a permanent source of revenue for environmental and natural resource protection and restoration activities in Minnesota. In the last legislative session, a bill passed that will sunset the Citizen's Advisory Board to the LCMR on June 30, 2001.