Agenda - Council Work Session - 09/29/2009

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PROJECT APPROACH IIKGi Page 30" Park Design Services The City of Ramsey has accomplished much toward achieving smart growth initiatives with the creation of the Ramsey Town Center. Key to the success of the town center's future development and growth will be the quality of its open spaces, parks and trail systems. The development of the Meandering Commons Park system provides the city with the opportunity to create a memorable park; one that creates a distinct identity for Ramsey, fulfills the needs of the community and exemplifies best practices in sustainable site design. The HKGi/MSA team envisions a design process for the East Meandering Commons Park project as a partnership that blends our design and facilitation skills with the history and vision of the Ramsey Town Center. Our approach is to work collaboratively with a core group of advisors and stakeholders - Steering Committee - to guide the process and the design of the site. We will listen closely and translate ideas into a compelling, yet functional, plan. Early in the process we plan to conduct a series of workshops with city staff and the community to prepare master plan alternatives for the site. We value public input and will engage the community in hands-on planning and design sessions, in testing potential design solutions and in shaping the final master plan. Our community meetings are not boring - sit on your hands meetings. We engage the community in the design process and use participatory methods to gather input and ideas. Examples of our inter-active methods for public engagement are listed throughout this proposal. Our plans are sustainable, maintainable, and implementable. We will provide life-cycle cost information and comparison during the process. We propose to design the site as a model and tangible example for sustainable practices and materials. We use universal design principles in our site plans to assure that the site and its features are accessible to all persons regardless of age, abilities or mobility. Our landscape designs emphasize the use of native plants which have many benefits including better suitability to site conditions, water conservation and reduced maintenance costs. We prefer to integrate public art and storm water management into the site rather than create a separate "pond" or a "place for a sculpture". The ability to maintain the site and in particular the ability to maintain public art is a key consideration to be determined early on in the design process. I n general, we prefer to design art as part of the site (art as infrastructure - i.e. in railings, or paving, or walls, etc.). Our experience has shown that infrastructure art is more cost effective, requires less maintenance and is highly valued by the public. It is important that the site is designed to assure ease of maintenance, be as vandal proof as possible and reflect the context of the town center and surrounding neighborhoods. Our commitment is to work with you to create a compelling and implementable plan for the East Meandering Commons Park based your direction and the ideas and preferences of the community.