Agenda - Parks and Recreation Commission - 10/14/1999

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Mayor Tom Gamec Ramsey City Council 15153 Nowthen Boulevard NW Ramsey, MN 55303 Alena Hunter 14628 Helium Street NW Ramsey, MN 55303 August 10, 1999 Dear Mayor Gamec and Ramsey City Council Members, As I am unable to attend tonight's council meeting, I would like this to be accepted as my contribution to the discussion regarding the Sunwood Drive Extension (Case #4 on your agenda). As you are aware, Sunwood Drive has been scheduled to be extended between County Road 5 and Highway 47 for some time now, long before any residents occupied the area. It is plainly clear to anyone (resident or not), that the "temporary" barriers are just that. Roads do not end with an orange striped, movable barrier such as those. When a road ends, a bit more permanent fixture is used, such as a concrete curb, or cul-de-sac, for instance. You are also aware that the State of Minnesota has contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to this project. Denying this extension would not be in the best interest of the residents of Ramsey. p~ach one of you sit on the Ramsey City Council at large. You represent ever!t resident of this city. Not a particular "precinct" which houses a particular group of people. If you deny this extension, not only are you acting on behalf of a select group of residents, but you are negatively impacting every resident of this city. If the state of Minnesota demands a repayment of monies, forwarded to Ramsey for this project, due to its incompletion, where will the money come from? Since the city can't even afford to pay 100% of the cost of street maintenance, how would this "bill" be paid? Here might be a likely scenario. Since the city can't arbitrarily raise taxes to cover this particular expense (due to state mandated levy limits), is it likely that to pay such a huge bill, money might have to come from a different fund, and services and/or another prOject would possibly be reduced or canceled. If that is the case, every citizen is affected negatively by a reduction in city services. As has been evident in the past, with the issues on 149th Avenue particularly, the city of Ramsey does not have enough east-west routes. Consequently, drivers have used residential streets to access major thoroughfares. The completion of Sunwood Drive would help reduce that residential street use, as the extension of County Road 116 did. I caution the council to think long and hard about exa~l!t who it is they represent. Please take ~_se points into consideration, along with the fact that a lot of time and money, not to mention ~.ommitment to other entities, has already been spent on this project up to this point. Sincerely,