Agenda - Council Work Session - 01/10/2017

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Print Agenda Item Page 1 of 3 CC Regular Session 7. 14. Meeting Date:09/13/2016 Information Title: Discuss Opportunity for Assistance from University of Minnesota's Center for Urban and Regional Affairs (CUBA)to Complete Pending Land Use Studies and Strategic Plan Initiatives - This case was originally slated for the Council Work Session agenda, but due to lack of time it was added to the Regular CC agenda at the meeting. Purpose/Background: Purpose The purpose of this case is to inform City Council of an innovative program opportunity through the University of Minnesota's Resilient Communities Project(RCP). This case should not be interpreted as formal consideration of the program at this time; the intent is to simply bring this opportunity to the attention of the City Council. Staff is bringing this forward for discussion with the idea that this program may bring innovative ideas to several policy topics currently under consideration that may not be considered with existing resources and expertise. Each academic year(July 1 - June 30), one community is selected as the Partner Community and gains access to a broad base of knowledge and expertise from U of MN faculty, graduate students, and upper level undergraduate students. The program attempts to match community identified projects with graduate and upper level undergraduate courses to complete the identified project(s). The application process for this program has been divided into two (2) components with the first step being a Letter of Intent (due by September 15, 2016). Based on the LOI submittals, selected communities will then be invited to apply to the RCP program (application due by February 15, 2017). The selected community's partnership would begin July 1, 2017 and would end June 30, 2018. Background This program is based on projects identified by the Partner Community. As Staff discussed this opportunity, our goal was to consider what projects were 'in the hopper'but just haven't progressed yet for one reason or another. Attached is a list of possible projects that were identified by Community Development, Public Works, Engineering and Administration Staff that may be a good fit for this program. This is not meant to be an exhaustive list, rather it simply demonstrates that there are a wide range of projects that could get jump started if Ramsey were selected as the Partner Community. There are multiple benefits to participating in the RCP. Most notably is the access to faculty and graduate/upper level undergraduate students from multiple disciplines, including architecture, planning, engineering, environmental sciences, public health and others. It provides an opportunity to advance projects that may otherwise never get off the ground. Furthermore, assistance is available for all stages of sustainability, which can include analysis, planning, design, implementation, and evaluation. The Partner Community would gain access to hundreds of hours of concentrated student work on projects the City has specifically identified. http://156.142.212.178:8080/frs/publish/print_ag_memo.cfm?seq=6676&rev num=0&mod... 1/4/2017