Minutes - Council Work Session - 04/03/1989 - Special Workshop

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JOHNSON AND JOHNSON ATTORNEYS AT LAW 2006 1st Avenue North, Suite 201 · Anoka, Minnesota 55303 (612) 427-6267 ATTACHMENT A 4-3-89 Robert W. Johnson Stephen D. Johnson March 31, 1989 city Council Ramsey, MN 55303 Members of the Council: On behalf of the real estate developers in the city of Ramsey, we wish to express our appreciation for the opportunity to meet with you at this workshop session. It is our understanding that it is your philosophy and hence your policy to encourage the orderly growth and development of the City of Ramsey. At the outset we would like an affirmation of that conclusion. Assuming that is the philosophy and policy of the city of Ramsey, we have the following comments and observations: 1. Our entire purpose in this workshop is to be positive and to assist you in implementing your policy. In doing that we will be pointing out to you experiences that are inconsistent with orderly growth and development. We want these to be taken in a constructive way and to be used as a catalyst for positive change. 2. In any growing and developing community there is need for a person with authority to be in charge of the process who can assist the developers through the maze of bureaucracy and requirements imposed by the City, County and State. A. The experiences that developers have had include one developer who has had to appear over 60 times and another who has had to ap- pear over 40 times. B. Some of the existing ordinances require duplicity of effort. C. Developers will receive a commitment from one person who apparently has authority~ only to have the commitment reversed by someone in a different division. They have received different direction from various staff and there is an inability to get correct information.