Minutes - Planning Commission - 11/06/2008

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including a mandatory six month review period for adjacent agencies. He noted the City has applied for an extension to this deadline to May 29, 2009. He stated a community visioning session was held on October 18, 2008, to amend the future land use map and all residents of the City were notified of this meeting through a special mailing. He added that a draft of the 2008 Comprehensive Plan Update has been completed by the City's consultant, Bonestroo, and this evening's discussion will focus on the land use map. Phil Carlson, Bonestroo, presented the draft land use plan prepared following the October 18th community meeting. He stated the plan is based on an extension of the previous plan as well as work that the community has done. He stated the City should be very proud of what the community has put together and the dedication of its residents in working on the land use plan. Mr. Carlson presented a brief history of the process undertaken by the City to amend its Comprehensive Plan, and stated Ramsey is a "developing area" per the Met Council's definition, meaning it is not fully developed and will likely not remain permanently rural. He explained that the Met Council requires that communities plan and stage development at appropriate densities, to plan for the entire community for 20 years of growth, and identify some post-2030 growth areas, and protect areas identified for future urban growth to minimize unsewered, rural development. He stated to the extent communities can accommodate efficient, compact growth, that is the goal, and the City needs to make sure it does that. He noted the forecast for Ramsey and other communities is difficult given the significant slowdown in housing over the last two years. Mr. Carlson then presented the 2020 land use plan and draft 2030 land use plan based on the workshops and other community meetings. He also presented a graphic depicting the changes from the 2020 plan versus the draft 2030 plan. He pointed out one additional change to the area west of Sweetbay Ridge (the St. Katharine Drexel church site) to reflect this area as being included as an urbanized development area; it was suggested to include the entire 40 acres as being within MUSA rather than incrementally over the space of ten or twenty years. David Hirsch, Iteris, national transportation consultants, presented an overview of their work as it relates to traffic volumes in the City. He stated they reviewed jurisdictional and functional classification maps in order to determine future connections, area traffic growth, etc. He stated they also take into consideration existing Mn/DOT traffic conditions and apply that to existing roadways and volume to capacity needs which correlates to a level of service; all of this data assists in making assumptions regarding future need among the various roadways. Mr. Carlson presented the projections based on planned land use in three categories: population, households, and employment. He stated the City showed a 2000 population of 18,500; in 20 I 0, population is projected at 26,345; 2020 population is projected at 34,180; and 2030 population is projected at 42,015. He stated the City had 5,906 households in 2000; in 2010, households are projected at 9,183; 2020 households are projected at 12,459; and 2030 households are projected at 15,736. He stated employment was 3,587 in 2000 and is projectedto be 13,252 in 2030. Citizen Input Planning CommissionlNovember 6, 2008 Page 13 of 18