2006 Minnesota Statutes

473.803 METROPOLITAN COUNTY PLANNING.
    Subdivision 1. County master plans; general requirements. Each metropolitan county,
following adoption or revision of the metropolitan policy plan and in accordance with the dates
specified therein, and after consultation with all affected local government units, shall prepare
and submit to the commissioner for approval, a county solid waste master plan to implement the
policy plan. The master plan shall be revised and resubmitted at such times as the metropolitan
policy plan may require. The master plan shall describe county solid waste activities, functions,
and facilities; the existing system of solid waste generation, collection, and processing, and
disposal within the county; proposed mechanisms for complying with the recycling requirements
of section 115A.551, and the household hazardous waste management requirements of section
115A.96, subdivision 6; existing and proposed county and municipal ordinances and license and
permit requirements relating to solid waste facilities and solid waste generation, collection, and
processing, and disposal; existing or proposed municipal, county, or private solid waste facilities
and collection services within the county together with schedules of existing rates and charges
to users and statements as to the extent to which such facilities and services will or may be
used to implement the policy plan; and any solid waste facility which the county owns or plans
to acquire, construct, or improve together with statements as to the planned method, estimated
cost and time of acquisition, proposed procedures for operation and maintenance of each facility;
an estimate of the annual cost of operation and maintenance of each facility; an estimate of the
annual gross revenues which will be received from the operation of each facility; and a proposal
for the use of each facility after it is no longer needed or usable as a waste facility. The master
plan shall, to the extent practicable and consistent with the achievement of other public policies
and purposes, encourage ownership and operation of solid waste facilities by private industry. For
solid waste facilities owned or operated by public agencies or supported primarily by public funds
or obligations issued by a public agency, the master plan shall contain criteria and standards to
protect comparable private and public facilities already existing in the area from displacement
unless the displacement is required in order to achieve the waste management objectives identified
in the plan.
    Subd. 1a.[Repealed, 1991 c 337 s 90]
    Subd. 1b.[Repealed, 1995 c 247 art 1 s 67]
    Subd. 1c. County abatement plan. Each county shall revise its master plan to include a
land disposal abatement element to implement the metropolitan land disposal abatement plan
adopted under section 473.149, subdivision 2d, and shall submit the revised master plan to the
commissioner for review under subdivision 2 within nine months after the adoption of the
metropolitan abatement plan. The county plan must implement the local abatement objectives
for the county and cities within the county as stated in the metropolitan abatement plan. The
county abatement plan must include specific and quantifiable county objectives, based on the
objectives in the metropolitan abatement plan, for abating to the greatest feasible and prudent
extent the need for and practice of land disposal of mixed municipal solid waste and of specific
components of the solid waste stream generated in the county, stated in six-year increments for a
period of at least 20 years from the date of metropolitan policy plan revisions. The plan must
include measurable performance standards for local abatement of solid waste through resource
recovery and waste reduction and separation programs and activities for the county as a whole
and for statutory or home rule charter cities of the first, second, and third class, respectively, in the
county, stated in six-year increments for a period of at least 20 years from the date of metropolitan
policy plan revisions. The performance standards must implement the metropolitan and county
abatement objectives. The plan must include standards and procedures to be used by the county in
determining annually under subdivision 3 whether a city within the county has implemented the
plan and has satisfied the performance standards for local abatement. The master plan revision
required by this subdivision must be prepared in consultation with the advisory committee
established pursuant to subdivision 4.
    Subd. 1d. Plans for required use of resource recovery facilities. Plans proposing
designation of resource recovery facilities pursuant to section 473.811, subdivision 10, shall
evaluate the benefits of the proposal, including the public purposes achieved by the conservation
and recovery of resources, the furtherance of local, district, or regional waste management
plans and policies, and the furtherance of the state policies and purposes expressed in section
115A.02, and also the costs of the proposal, including not only the direct capital and operating
costs of the facility but also any indirect costs and adverse long-term effects of the designation. In
particular the plan shall evaluate:
(a) whether the required use will result in the recovery of resources or energy from materials
which would otherwise be wasted;
(b) whether the required use will lessen the demand for and use of land disposal;
(c) whether the required use is necessary for the financial support of the facility;
(d) whether less restrictive methods for ensuring an adequate solid waste supply are available;
(e) all other feasible and prudent waste processing alternatives for accomplishing the
purposes of the proposed designation, the direct and indirect costs of the alternatives, including
capital and operating costs, and the effects of the alternatives on the cost to generators.
    Subd. 1e.[Repealed, 1995 c 247 art 1 s 67]
    Subd. 2. Commissioner review. The commissioner shall review each master plan or revision
thereof to determine whether it is consistent with the metropolitan policy plan. If it is not
consistent, the commissioner shall disapprove and return the plan with its comments to the county
for revision and resubmittal. The county shall have 90 days to revise and resubmit the plan for the
commissioner's approval. Any county solid waste plan or report approved by the council prior to
July 1, 1994, shall remain in effect until a new master plan is submitted to and approved by the
commissioner in accordance with this section.
The commissioner shall review the household hazardous waste management portion of
each county's plan.
    Subd. 2a. Waste abatement. The commissioner may require any county that fails to meet
the waste abatement objectives contained in the metropolitan policy plan to amend its master plan
to address methods to achieve the objectives. The master plan amendment is subject to review and
approval as provided in subdivision 2 and must consider at least:
(1) minimum recycling service levels for solid waste generators;
(2) mandatory generator participation in recycling programs including separation of
recyclable material from mixed municipal solid waste;
(3) use of organized solid waste collection under section 115A.94; and
(4) waste abatement participation incentives including provision of storage bins, weekly
collection of recyclable material, expansion of the types of recyclable material for collection,
collection of recyclable material on the same day as collection of solid waste, and financial
incentives such as basing charges to generators for waste collection services on the volume
of waste generated and discounting collection charges for generators who separate recyclable
material for collection separate from their solid waste.
    Subd. 3. Annual report. By April 1 of each year, each metropolitan county shall prepare
and submit to the commissioner for approval a report containing information, as prescribed in
the metropolitan policy plan, concerning solid waste generation and management within the
county. The report shall include a statement of progress in achieving the land disposal abatement
objectives for the county and classes of cities in the county as stated in the metropolitan policy
plan and county master plan. The report must list cities that have not satisfied the county
performance standards for local abatement required by subdivision 1c. The report must include a
schedule of rates and charges in effect or proposed for the use of any solid waste facility owned or
operated by or on its behalf, together with a statement of the basis for such charges.
The report shall contain the recycling development grant report required by section 473.8441
and the annual certification report required by section 473.848.
    Subd. 4. Advisory committee. Each county shall establish a solid waste management
advisory committee to aid in the preparation of the county master plan, any revisions thereof, and
such additional matters as the county deems appropriate. The committee must consist of citizen
representatives, representatives from towns and cities within the county, and representatives from
private waste management firms. The committee must include residents of towns or cities within
the county containing solid waste disposal facilities. The commissioner or the commissioner's
appointee is a nonvoting ex officio member of the committee.
    Subd. 5. Role of private sector; county oversight. A county may include in its solid waste
management master plan and in its plan for county land disposal abatement a determination that
the private sector will achieve, either in part or in whole, the goals and requirements of sections
473.149 and 473.803, as long as the county:
(1) retains active oversight over the efforts of the private sector and monitors performance
to ensure compliance with the law and the goals and standards in the metropolitan policy plan
and the county master plan;
(2) continues to meet its responsibilities under the law for ensuring proper waste
management, including, at a minimum, enforcing waste management law, providing waste
education, promoting waste reduction, and providing its residents the opportunity to recycle
waste materials; and
(3) continues to provide all required reports on the county's progress in meeting the waste
management goals and standards of this chapter and chapter 115A.
History: 1975 c 13 s 140; 1976 c 179 s 14; 1980 c 564 art 10 s 8; 1981 c 352 s 41; 1982 c
424 s 130; 1982 c 569 s 26-28; 1983 c 373 s 57,58; 1984 c 455 s 1; 1984 c 640 s 32; 1984 c 644 s
63-65; 1985 c 274 s 23,24; 1987 c 348 s 41; 1988 c 685 s 30; 1989 c 325 s 54; 1Sp1989 c 1 art 20
s 28; 1991 c 337 s 66,67; 1993 c 249 s 40; 1994 c 585 s 41; 1995 c 247 art 1 s 52-54; art 2 s
31-34; 1997 c 45 s 2; 1Sp2005 c 1 art 2 s 161