Minutes - Council - 05/19/1981 - Special Airport Study

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Mr. Smith asked the City Council members if anyone of them would like to sign the petition at this time. There was no action by the Council. Mr. Smith then presented A Petition to the Ramsey City Council stating the following: "We, the undersigned, would like to go on record as being vehemently opposed to the creation of any new airport facility in the City of Ramsey", signed by 1,077 citizens of the City of Ramsey and presented to the Council on May 19, 1981, at 8:24 P.M. Mr. Smith further stated "We don't want to spend one more dime on this airport action". Citizen at 6500 165th Lane stated her opposition to the airport. Citizen at 1600 Radium asked what is the potential of expansion of the airport. Citizen Vic Hagen, Jaspar Street asked when was this initiated and who initiated it. Mayor Gamec stated the airport study has been considered even when the City was a township. He has met with General Mills and at this time General Mills does not want to sell their land to the City and they currently intend to look at their site as a potential research center. Further there is no present funding available for an airport. Mayor Gamec has done some investigating into other areas around airports and found unfavorable comments; the main concern being a noise factor not crashes. As far as our fire portection, we have a Tri-City Fire Committee and our fire protection is adequate at this time however a huge cost would be involved to initiate a volunteer fire department and this would be a problem in Ramsey at this time during the day time hours. We are presently looking into a satellite fire station coordinated with the Anoka Fire Department. As far as police protection, we presently have 5 policemen, one chief and just added one man to start in June using some grant funds. As far as industrial development, there is no way to tell if the airport would benefit without completing the study. As far as the City Council signing petitions, usually council members do not sign petitions. More Citizen Input: Howard Carson, 15420 Kangaroo Street aksed about the bridge study over the river west of Anoka. He felt this would be a better project and more beneficial than an airport. Mayor Gamec stated the county is looking into the bridge over the Rum River and presently funding is not good for this, however it is a necessity for safety and economic reasons. Mr. Carson says not the Rum but the Mississippi bridge. Mayor Gamec stated that project has been scraped for now however he and John Mann have had several discussions regarding this bridge. Larry Stisek, 8513 164th Lane asked who would benefit from the airport and stated there are no positive thoughts on it. Mayor Gamec stated he could give more negative than positive benefits at the present time however the most positive benefit would be economic benefit to the City of Ramsey and provide employment here. AIRPORT MEETING May 19, 1981