The Cedar River Watershed District made a tough decision Wednesday night when it voted 4-3 to send its draft rules to the Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources (BWSR). The move is one of the final steps in passing the rules into law.

The BWSR is the state entity that provides final insight about the rules and whether they are legitimate.

However, county and city officials hoped the board would hold the rules one more time. Jon Erichson, Austin city engineer, said the board hasn’t properly addressed how the rules will affect different stages of the North Main flood mitigation project, of which the city will start bidding for contractors in April.

Erichson and others want more specific information about the rules’ potential effects on the project, such as permit requirements and future costs to the city. One rule basically requires any negative impacts to the floodplain from large projects to fixed either on-site or downstream. City and county officials worry about the uncertainty of this rule and its potential to increase project costs by as much as $1 million.

CRWD board members said the 60-day review process will allow CRWD and the city to discuss a memorandum of understanding. The board also stressed that the review process does not pass the rules into law, and that members would have to vote on the rules once more when BWSR returns them.

However, city officials still worry because they want assurance.

“It’s kind of hard to comment not knowing what the memorandum is going to say,” Erichson said. “At this point, we don’t even know what that is.”

The CRWD board and staff said they don’t want to stand in the way of the flood project, and the city does not have to wait for approval to begin work.

“We’ve never even taken a stance that it is the position of this board to slow that project,” said Mike Jones of the CRWD board. “I know this board isn’t planning to put a halt on this project.”

Several CRWD board members sympathized with the city, but most thought delaying further wouldn’t accomplish much. During the 60-day review, CRWD and the city can discuss the flood project’s potential downstream effects, something CRWD wants more info on. They should have more results next week from an engineering firm.

They also await feedback on BWSR’s thoughts on a snow removal rule, which would require the city to move some of its snow dumping sites outside of the floodplain and potentially increase taxes because of trucking costs.

Jones said it was better to leave some of the rules in the document because it’s always easier to take them out versus changing them or adding more details.

The CRWD also wants the rules in place, so it can begin work on some of its own projects, such as stream bank restorations, storm ponds, ditches and other flood control and water quality improvements.

CRWD Watershed Technician, Matt Taylor, presented his findings from all of his 2010 water quality studies. His samples proved the Cedar River has multiple water quality concerns, including high E. Coli bacteria, high nitrates, nitrites and phosphorous.

The CRWD will discuss comments to the rules from BWSR at its monthly board meeting in May.