Municipally-owned and operated industrial activities

All regulated municipally-owned and -operated facilities are required to obtain either the industrial stormwater permit or certify for the No Exposure exclusion. This guidance document will assist with determining which of the two is appropriate for each facility location. Detailed information can be found in the permit at www.pca.state.mn.us/index.php/view-document.html?gid=20797.

“Municipality" means a city, village, borough, county, town, sanitary district, or other governmental subdivision or public corporation or agency created by the legislature.

“Facility” means land which has common ownership and is the location of a single corporation, business or publicly-owned operation with a portion engaged in industrial activity, even if land parcels are separated by a roadway, fence line or similar boundary.

A municipality's facility boundary is often different from a “traditional” industrial facility boundary because municipal ownership can be spread out over large distances and areas or contains several parcels of land, either connected together or may be geographically separate. For the purposes of this permit, each parcel or property’s boundaries establish a distinct facility within which primary industrial or narrative activities must be evaluated, and if relevant, apply for permit coverage or certify for No Exposure.

Who must apply?

Each facility, whether privately or municipally owned, must identify all of its industrial activities and compare them with Primary Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes found within the permit under Appendix D: Sectors of Industrial Activities Authorized (see last page for web link). Each facility evaluation is facility/address-specific and each facility location within the municipality must be evaluated to determine if it needs permit coverage. If any of the facility’s activities fall within a “Primary” or “Narrative” SIC code, an application for permit coverage or No Exposure certification is required.

The Primary SIC code represents the activity that produces the facility’s largest revenue. If revenue data is not available or relevant, then select the SIC code activity with the largest number of employees. If using employee data is not possible or applicable, use the SIC code representing the largest volume of production.

A comprehensive list of SIC code descriptions can be found at: [www.osha.gov/pls/imis/sicsearch.html here].