Agenda - Council - 11/25/2008 - Laserfiche WebLink

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-332— Perhaps I underestimate what might be properly needed, a single point of language alteration, but the following are either weak and uncertain points needing bolstering; or inappropriate (superseded) language which has been retained but should be changed; page IV -1. It seems that the major concerns of water availability and existing neighborhood character preservation without forced hookups, might be accommodated by Metropolitan Council and neighboring city agreement with simple changes of exactly the sort suggested below [edited perhaps, as needed to be terse, but without losing single - family homeowner protection]: 1. Due to its location at the edge of the region, the automobile will continue to be the primary means of taransit for Ramsey residents, and growth will be incremental where a contiguous MUSA line approach has proven infeasible due to intervening existing housing on well and septic systems where lot size and system upkeep make that an attractive ongoing preservation option attentive to the character of existing and established neighborhoods. This is consistent with Met. Council policy stated at a citizen meeting in Ramsey that target goals in progressing to 2030 are with regard to total housing units and not with regard to any demands, planned quotas, or requirements of existing homes being made to connect to available municipal sewer and water services. 2. [unchanged] 3. [first sentence unchanged] Ultimately, such areas may never require public sewer or water services, while water availability given drought and aquifer capacity concerns are a worry of Ramsey, neighboring communities relying on identical water resources, and the Metropolitan Council, which currently is exploring water modeling reliability, for surface and deep ground water sources. 4. [unchanged] 5. [...] all of the new urban development possible in Ramsey. 6. The Metropolitan Council and neighboring communities are informed expansion of rural residential development, consistent with prior Comprehensive Planning, at urban densities of three units per buildable acre are now being n arge planned as part of accommodating new lower density urban growt h densities tracts adjacent to or neighboring Highway 5, with other rural areas remaining at lower densities such as one home per 2 -1/2 acre, subject as always, to amendment proposals suggesting differing urban density is feasible and attention to green space and wetland buffer preservation is suitable. The recent history of non- contiguous MUSA expansion in Ramsey might need a continuation to meet future housing target totals and proposed mapping suggests this. A strict moving MUSA line approach has as a practical matter been abandoned, so that orderly expansion in larger open northern tracts was allowed which bypassed existing single family home neighborhoods not generally desiring forced municipal sewer and water