Minutes - Council - 06/17/1975 - Laserfiche WebLink

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COMBINED F~EETING RAMSEY CITY COUNCIL & PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION June 17, 197~ The meeting was called to order by Mayor Cox at 7:&5 p.m. Present were Mr. Gotham, Mr. Reimann and Mrs. Oliphant of.:.'the Council and Mr. Sorteberg, Mr. Zimmerm_-n, Mr. Pittman, Mr. Gamec and Mr. Fossum of the Planning & Zoning. Commission. Mr. Fricke and Attorney Good- rich were also present. Mr. Steffen was also present. Mr. Ed. Babcock, attorney for some of the land .owners between Highway 10 and the river had attended the public hearing held by the Environ- mental Quality Council. on June 9th. He explained some of the things taken up at this hearing and that the .City of Ramsey can send in a reply to this EQC Council until July 9th. Mr. Steffen had asked Mr. Babcock to come to this meeting to express the wishes of the people he is representing in this matter. Mr. Sorteberg was also .~,~present at this meeting. Both Mr. Babcock and Mr. Sorteberg-said this group holding the hearing, was surprised that their recommendations were put to a test. They had not come prepared to submit to cross exam- ination about their ideas and plans. Mr. Babcock cross, examined the MC representative. The position Mr. Babcock and Mr. S~rteberg made clear was that they did not want another' layer of government on the Mississippi corridor. They did not object to part of the area as a critic-~l but they seriously questioned whether all of the area between the south line of the highway and the river qualified. They felt in some places it could be 300 feet from the river and in some place~ 150 feet seemed reasonable. The maps showed the 100 and 500 year high water mark of the river. It makes much more sense to tie the line to the high water line. Mr. Babcock feels we should be concerned about' this area and have some input into this hearing. He feels something coming from this City will carry more weight than anything coming from.the general public. The cri- teria used for setting aside land is historical, cultural, or to be of natural significance. The highway does. not bring in people and this is a false argument on the part of the Metropolitan Council. It was on cross examination that it was said there is to be a 200 foot set back on the river with 1OO feet from bluff areas. He sug- gests there will be some planning but this is dangerous device on their part. Final decision making should not be made in St. Paul. He feels this is a very serious matter and .hopes Ramsey will act on it, otherwise the real decision making will .be taken away from US. Resolution: Mr. Steffen explained his proposed resolution on the Mississippi River corridor. It was discussed point by point. Mr. Babcock said he does not feel we .need another layer of government on this riven. He would be happy if this corridor would stop at the City of Anoka. Mr. Sorteberg said he thQughtwhen the MC put it on paper, they ex- pected Ramsey to go along with it. Mr. Sorteberg felt the MC had a lot of misinformation such as that Ramsey had.50 septic site failures.