Agenda - Council Work Session - 12/01/2009

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CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION Topic Report: Mississippi River Visioning Collaborative By: Mark Riverblood, Parks Supervisor ...a Background: The purpose of this topic report is to discuss the proposed Mississippi River Community Visioning endeavor. The concept, in part, is an outcome of the observation that compared to the .cities of Anoka, Coon Rapids, and Champlain, the river stretch 'above the pool' is noticeably more naturalized and less intensively developed and consequently more conducive for high quality natural resource-based recreation. In addition, because there are more undeveloped areas within the cities of Ramsey, Dayton, Elk River and Otsego, these cities may collectively identify a unified vision to "cultivate the Mississippi as a key asset for recreation, wildlife, scenic beauty, and tourism... and realize the river as a healthy, enduring, and significant community legacy for future generations." On October 20th, 2009, Mayor Ramsey and staff met with the Friends of the Mississippi River (FMR) and discussed a broad range of issues and ideas - with one outcome, the concept for FMR to prepare a proposal that may facilitate a process to arrive at the above referenced goals or vision. It is important to state that the intention is clearly not to create another layer of regulatory authority, but rather, identify areas of mutual agreement for consistent, long-term land use planning in our shared river corridor. Further, successfully completing this exercise may aid these cities in applying for grants for things like connecting trails or for the acquisition or development of public access to the river, (e.g. fishing piers and boat landings). The process is not without cost, which is identified in the attached document within the draft preliminary budget. Participants in funding the project may include: the Cities of Dayton, Elk River, Otsego, and Ramsey, as well as potentially Anoka County, Hennepin County, Sherburne County, and Wright County. For the city of Ramsey, the money can be allocated from the 2009 parks' operating budget - Misc. Professional Services, which has a present balance of $1 0,727. Staff is seeking Council consensus to move forward with this visioning project, as well as defining the scope of the project. For instance, the present outline from FMR discusses the visioning process culminating in a two day charrette with stakeholders. If this, as an example, were able to be reduced to a one day exercise, it would have a corresponding impact to the proposed budget. As a final point of clarification, it is anticipated the city of Ramsey would in some ways take the lead in this multi-jurisdictional program and product, to ensure the process and end deliverables meet with Ramsey's goals for our community. Action Statement: Based upon discussion Reviewed by: _ / () CityAdministrntor ~ 'CG.Y-- I . CCWS: 12/1109