Minutes - Council - 01/08/2008 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Councilmember Dehen stated that his point is he does not want to see a survey go out that only addresses such a narrow area. Councilmember Look reminded EPB Chair McDilda that this is a different Council than the one who approved the work plan in 2006. EPB Chair McDilda stated that the work plan was approved for both 2006 and 2007. Councilmember Look stated that he has done a little research on the City and found that there is 3,900 acres of wetland and 40 plus parks, which covers about 500 acres. He stated that his concern is that Embrace Open Space is a special interest group and understands why they oppose broadening the survey to include other items because they want to promote their agenda. He stated that he also has information from Decision Resources about people's willingness to pay more for a home if it is within walking distance of a park and other open areas. He stated that their research showed that if you live within walking distance, people are willing to pay 10% more, but if you are within a 5 minute drive, the numbers drop off sharply. He stated that he is not sure why the City would need to do a new survey when this type of survey has already been done. He stated that he wants to make it clear that he is not opposed to the efforts being made to get this on the ballot, but does not know if the City should sanction it. He stated that there is a process to get this on the ballot without the Council involvement. He stated that there was a survey done in 1997 and he feels the City should follow up on the needs raised from that survey to see if they are still current, or are "trumped" by the open space issue. He stated that the community and the demographics have been changing and he feels the City should try to find out what people want now. EPB Chair McDilda stated that the EPB looked at communities nearby and tried to follow the same process they did in considering a ballot referendum. He stated that they looked at Andover and Blaine, for example, and they felt that Ramsey was similar enough that they could follow the same path and in both those cases, the City backed the open space process. Councilmember Elvig stated that this is a challenging topic and in Ward I he hears a lot of comments about preservation of open space. He asked if part of this process would be a feasibility study. He noted that he has concerns about taking land away from people and agrees with the comments by Councilmembers Dehen and Look. He stated that he feels feasibility is important and that it be done fairly so a vacuum is not created and he does not feel a special interest group should run it. EPB Chair McDilda stated that this is the reason that they went with a 3rd party and looked at what other communities did. He stated that the primary objective of the survey will be the feasibility with questions like: "If you did contribute to open space, how much would you be willing to contribute and for how long?". He stated that would be step one and step two would be starting to look at what a referendum would look like which is why they would like the City to back this because the City would be ultimately responsible for how the funding is used. Councilmember Elvig stated that the wording of the referendum is crucial, but without a feasibility study, he isn't sure he is qualified to help determine this from this information. He City Council / January 8, 2008.Page 11 of23