Agenda - Economic Development Authority - 01/07/2016

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INTRODUCTION Background The City of Ramsey is home to hundreds of successful and growing businesses. Many of these businesses are located in the city's original "business parks" along Bunker Lake Boulevard, just north of U.S. Highway 10, east of Ramsey Boulevard. In 2013, available land for existing Ramsey businesses to expand, or for new businesses to locate in Ramsey, became scarce. As a result, the Ramsey EDA and City Council identified targeting a new business park a priority. In the winter of 2013-14, a new business park location was identified by the Ramsey Economic Development Authority (EDA), Planning Commission, and City Council. The newly proposed business park is located along Bunker Lake Boulevard, west of Armstrong Boulevard, on the north side of U.S. Highway 10; and will include nearly 93 acres of land available for development by businesses. The future business park is one component (about 93 acres) of a larger green -field area ready for development (about 350 acres). This larger area green -field area includes areas for single-family residential development (about 118 acres), medium -density residential (about 31 acres) and room for a future private school campus (about 90 acres). The city's future business park, and larger developable green -field area, will be served by the U.S. Highway 10/Armstrong Boulevard (CSAH 83) interchange. In the process of planning for the city's proposed future business park, the city completed an infrastructure analysis in 2015. The purpose of the infrastructure analysis was to identify costs associated with extending arterial infrastructure to the city's future business park area (and larger developable area). The next step in the process of planning for a future business park was to complete an Economic Development Analysis. Purpose The purpose of an Economic Development Analysis is to identify: Ramsey's competition, evaluate what similar communities are doing for economic development, consider market conditions, establish property tax projections, generate a concept site map, identify ancillary economic benefit estimations, and outline various policy alternatives. The outcome of this analysis is a foundation of information for elected/ appointed officials to have various larger policy discussions. The purpose of this EXECUTIVE SUMMARY is to provide an overview of the Economic Development Analysis. For detailed information, please reference the Economic Development Analysis FINDINGS REPORT and APPENDICES. Page 3 of 12