Agenda - Parks and Recreation Commission - 05/11/2017

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April 28, 2017 Tim Gladhill Community Development Director City of Ramsey 7550 Sunwood Drive NW Ramsey, MN 55303 Dear Tim — As a part of the Riverstone preliminary plat submittal, the following lists the basic details of the park dedication proposal. A portion of the park dedication fees to be paid by the developer, as a part of each phase of the community, is proposed to be credited back to the developer, in return for park improvements to be made by the developer within Riverstone. We request this proposal be presented to the Planning Commission and City Council for review and further discussion. There are a few points of clarity which are important to note, due to the previous discussions that have taken place with city staff and during the recent Council workshop. • Riverstone will be unlike any residential neighborhood previously developed in the city of Ramsey, due to the mid -density style homes and the overall size of the community. With this in mind, the park dedication credit will not be setting a precedent. The majority of the lots have an area in range of 6,500 SF as compared to a standard single family lot, in the range of 10,000 SF. With much less yard space in each lot, park land can be easily justified at Riverstone. This neighborhood does not compare to single family neighborhoods with larger lots. • The future Lake Itasca park will be a great nearby amenity to Riverstone. The concern is the unknown schedule of those park improvements and the distance the park will be away from the majority of homes to be built in Riverstone. From the center of the Riverstone neighborhood, Lake Itasca is approximately 1/2 mile away (as the crow flies). At this distance, families typically prepare for a walk to the park together, and it will take about 10 minutes to get there. The compact lots and significant size of the Riverstone community will demand park and open space that is a quick walk down the street. With the high number of children anticipated to live at Riverstone, they will want a neighborhood park they can run to close to home. The children can play on the playground or they can run around in the open space. It is anticipated that over 1,000 residents will live in Riverstone, with many being children. • The city is not being asked to contribute outside funds to this park. The funding will come from the Riverstone community itself, as each phase develops. Upfront funding to build the park will be the responsibility of the developer. The park dedication fees will be credited to the developer until the total amount is reached. The credit is planned to take multiple years. • The developer's original park credit proposal included park credits to fund the park located on Outlot D. The improvements to Park D are estimated to cost $203,000. In an effort to meet concerns of city staff and make the proposal more desirable to the city, the developer has since revised the proposal to remove these improvements on Capstone Homes, Inc. 14015 Sunfish Lake Blvd NW, Suite 400 Ramsey, MN 55303 Office: (763) 427-3090 Fax: (763) 712 -9060