Agenda - Council - 07/08/2003 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Boulevard. are proposed to include a charter school, a medical facility with associated medical offices/services, as well as a hotel. The area on farthest western edge of the core at the intersection of new Sunwood Drive. and Armstrong Boulevard. will include larger scale commercial and office uses. This area will also include some high density housing facing the greenway running through the middle of the development. This center greenway will serve two functions. It will serve as recreational and green space for the residents of Ramsey and the Town Center. The greenway will be traversed with trails for walking and biking and have areas for active recreation. The gq'eenway will be surrounded by one-way streets that will also help define the area. The second function of the greenway will be for sto~rnwater management. It is anticipated that the greenway will have several wet ponds that will assist in stormwater quality management, and through the use of meandering streams, will convey the water eventually to the Mississippi River. The area north of the greenway is primarily residential with attached housing (townhomes, row homes). The Sketch Plan shows a green space amenity embedded in each residential block. In certain areas, some of the residential units may go as high as 4 -5 stories. The residential areas are intended to be served by sidewalks and trails that will assist in pedestrian and bike movement to the Town Center core. The Ramsey Town Center will dramatically change the present land use to a highly-urbanized commercial, retail, recreational and residential development that will serve Ramsey residents and residents and commuters of the larger region. Due to the large impact of the development, the City is required to conduct an Alternative Urban Areawide Review (AUAR) environmental review. The AUAR looks at all environmental impacts created by the development. Items that are reviewed and analyzed include impacts to habitat, wetlands and water supply, local infrastructure (roads and utilities), air and noise pollution, and traffic impact. On April 8, 2003, the City Council released a draft AUAR for the Town Center that comprised nearly 300 pages. The comment period on the AUAR ended on May 14, 2003. Staff has responded to the comments received from the agencies and the public. Unless there are objections to the responses, it is expected that the City Council will consider adoption of final AUAR at the June 24, 2003 meeting. The proposed Town Center will require significant upgrading of the local, County, and State road system. The Town Center AUAR identifies many improvements that will be made to the transportation network surrounding the Ramsey Town Center by full build-out. At their May 1, 2003 meeting, the Planning Commission tabled action on the sketch plan to the June 5, 2003 meeting in order to study the plan in gq'eater detail. Since that time, Staff has met with most of the Planning Commissioners to review the plan. In addition, a joint meeting with the City Council and Town Center Task Force was held on June 3, 2003 to discuss Town Center matters. The Planning Commission reviewed the sketch plan at its June 5, 2003 meeting and recommended to the City Council that Ramsey Town Center LLC proceed to preliminary plat stage. Motion by Councilmember Pearson, seconded by Councilmember Cook, to approve the sketch plan for the Ramsey Town Center and instruct the applicant, Ramsey Town Center, LLC to move to preliminary plat stage. Motion carried. Voting Yes: Mayor Gamec, and Councilmembers Pearson, Cook, Elvig, and Zimmerman. Voting No: None. Abstained: CouncilmemberKurak. Councihnember Elvig thanked the Planning Commission for moving the issue forward. City Council/June 10, 2003 Page 14 of 22