Minutes - Council - 05/23/2017 - Laserfiche WebLink

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R-2 and therefore the lots will be smaller than the typical single-family home lot which will result in smaller lots and higher density. He stated that because of that, this is a unique neighborhood for the City of Ramsey and for the area. He stated that they will take advantage of the high visibility from Highway 10. He noted that they are attempting to provide a park and area for the kids to run within the development, rather than the closest park being a quarter mile from the development. He stated that they would be unable to build the park without the credits towards Park Dedication and would instead be converted into lots for additional homes. He provided an overview of what would be created in the development including the number of lots, open space, trails, and amenities which will include landscaped open space, berm landscaping, landscaped entrances, water features and surrounding landscaping. He stated that they are attempting to create a crosswalk to the play area from the greenway corridor as well. He stated that at the Park and Recreation Commission meeting he had difficulty describing the area outside of the greenway corridor. He provided a sketch of the proposed greenway corridor trail and the proximity to the proposed park that would include at least one, possibly two, crossings to the park. He stated that the proposed park would have a connection to the Lake Itasca Trail, provide a unique play area, have close proximity to homes in Riverstone, landscaping with irrigation, include a pavilion and would be available for public use. He provided a comparison from the original proposal to the new proposal request for park dedication credits, noting that the land costs had been removed. He stated that there are significant infrastructure off-site costs for utilities and noted that the share to the developer will be over $1,000,000 for utility extension. He stated that is not a typical developer cost and therefore the additional cost for creating the park and open space and paying full Park Dedication would not financially work. He stated that there has been discussion of setting precedent by allowing this request but noted that he did not believe that this would be precedent setting. He referenced the Villages at Sunfish Lake and noted that situation should not be used as an example of a developer paying Park Dedication and creating a park in addition because the development went bankrupt. He stated that Northfork has also been mentioned but noted that development has higher home values with larger lots and the attempt in this development is to provide more affordable homes. Parks and Assistant Public Works Superintendent Riverblood requested that the recommendations of Alternative 1 or Alternative 2, as outlined in the staff memorandum, be selected as the framework to fulfill Park Dedication Obligations and Credit for the Development Agreement for the Riverstone Addition. He noted that staff supports recommendation of Alternative 2, which was developed as the outcome from the joint work session discussion between the City Council and Park and Recreation Commission. He stated that regardless of the alternative that the Council directs staff to proceed with, there will still be several hundreds of thousands of dollars in Park Dedication provided by the development. He noted that following the direction of the Council, the Park and Recreation Commission will make a formal recommendation on the Preliminary Plat at their meeting on June 9th that will come before the Council on June 13tH Mayor Strommen noted that there was great discussion at the joint worksession meeting with the Park and Recreation Commission. She noted that in this instance the Council should consider the interim topic and not the policy as a whole. City Council/May 23,2017 Page 4 of 10