02/12/08 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

City of Ramsey MASTER HOUSING PLAN --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------.-.- Land Supply: Available land for development will have a large impact on housing supply and demand within Ramsey. "Available Land" can be defined in a variety of ways. By examining the larger parcels in Ramsey, we can determine the areas that may be under development pressure. Also, by examining building permit and subdivision trends, we can estimate how many more housing units will be built in the next few years. In 2006, there were over 4,000 acres of parcels that are at least 10 acres in size and zoned residential. This provides a significant opportunity for residential development in the future. Of the 4,000 acres oflarge parcels currently in Ramsey, over 800 acres (20%) were subdivided OR began the subdivision process in 2005 and 50 acres (1.3%) in 2006. Recently, there has been a general slowdown of requests for subdivisions. In addition, many of the recent development inquiries include land for new rental housing. In 2005, the City of Ramsey approved approximately 500 new residential lots through the subdivision process and in 2006 there was approval for 100 units. Also in 2005, there were an additional 1,200 units that are in some stage of the approval process. This is an unprecedented amount of growth for the City, and compares to cities like Woodbury and Maple Grove in the amount of new residential lots. Since 2005, the rate of residential development has slowed, as it has throughout the Twin Cities metropolitan area. Based upon household growth projections provided by the Metropolitan Council through 2030, Ramsey would need an additional 998 acres available for new housing which is 32% of the total acres available for subdivision. However, the 998 acres assumed that 67% is for low-density development and 33% is for medium- to high-density development with the majority of the development occurring between 2010 and 2020. This translates into a total of6,085 units of which 2,000 would be low density single family units and 4,085 would be mediunl to high density multifamily housing units. Metropolitan Council Livable Communities Act: Affordability Goals In January of 2006, the Metropolitan Council released goals for the production of new affordable housing in the metropolitan region for the years 2011-2020. The goals focus on households earning at or below 60% of the AMI to more effectively target lower income households with limited financial resources. In 2007 dollars, a household of four with an income at or below 60% AMI earns up to $47,100 and can afford to purchase a home at or less than $152,000. This will be very difficult to achieve for ownership housing in developing suburbs such as Ramsey, especially in detached single-family units. February 2008 City of Ramsey Master Housing Plan Page 10