Agenda - Council Work Session - 02/19/2013 - Strategic Planning

Home

Developments, MUSA Change Guidelines - Met Council, Natural Resources Systems - Design Models Natural and Cultural Resources Community Protection Strategies Checklists The blog came to serve as a place for residents to voice their concerns about the city and the upcoming comp plan process. Although a great many of these issues were widely known in the community, the blog allowed for a freer discussion of them than had formerly been possible. The Forums In the spring of 2007, the City of Ramsey hosted a series of four community forums structured around critical issues facing Ramsey and the region. The forums brought in four national experts to discuss Regional Intersections, Community Ecology, Innovative Zoning, and Transportation Alternatives. The city was also quite successful in attracting cosponsors from around the Twin Cities region to help publicize the events and increase regional capacity. Ramsey publicized these events through the web site, through the community newsletter, through appearances by city staff and officials at local meetings, and through a city -wide mailing. The speakers also provided an extensive list of background materials for the forums that was posted on the web site. Each forum attracted approximately 50 people, who ranged from city commission members to citizens that had not previously been engaged in city affairs. It was especially gratifying to see participation from residents, officials, and policy makers from communities in Sherburne, Hennepin, and Anoka Counties. Background discussions with all the speakers stressed the use of the term "forum" to describe these events, for the proposal envisioned the forums as an open exchange of ideas between experts and the public. It was extremely important to encourage this dialogue so that those attending could more fully discuss their questions and concerns. Scheduled with each forum was a minimum of half a day for the guest experts to meet with public works, engineering, public safety and city planning staff, council and commission members for training on the concepts, tools and processes presented by forum leaders. Finally, staff videotaped each session and broadcast them over Quad Cities TV, a community cable channel serving the cities of Ramsey, Anoka, Andover, and Champlin. These videotapes are available through the City of Ramsey. The dates and speakers of each forum are: February 8, 2007 February 22, 2007 March 29, 2007 April 12, 2007 Regional Intersections Community Ecology Innovative Zoning Transportation Alternatives Ramsey Final Report Grant No. 05 -1237 City of Ramsey The following pages recap the proceedings of each forum. 6 Dan Marckel, CURA, Minneapolis, MN Douglas Farr, Farr Associates, Chicago, IL Leslie Oberholtzer, Farr Associates, Chicago, IL Dan Burden, Walkable Communities, Orlando, FL