Minutes - Planning Commission - 12/04/2014

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City Administrator Ulrich presented the staff report stating during the 2013 City Council. Strategic Planning process, discussion ensued related to initiating a resident surveying process. Generally speaking, survey results would benefit the City in a wide range of applications. However, relating to the Strategic Plan specifically, a resident survey allows the City to clearly analyze organizational performance measurements; including, the City's Strategic Plan balanced scorecard. He discussed the City's vision and mission along with a recap of the Strategic Plan. Commissioner Nosan thanked staff for communicating these results to the Commission and commended staff for their efforts on behalf of the City. Assistant City Administrator/Economic Development Manager Brama reviewed the survey methods and results. It was noted a third party survey was chosen to assist the City with gathering information from residents. He explained that benchmarks were created to compare Ramsey to local and regional cities. The design and layout of the survey was discussed along with the results. Highlights from the survey included the fact that Ramsey was a great place to live in raise a family, had affordable housing and was a safe community. Opportunities for growth were to improve the image of Ramsey, the quality of business services, and there was a lack of education/recreation center. Assistant City Administrator/Economic Development Manager Brama discussed how the City would use the information gathered to move forward. He anticipated the Council would be referring to the survey results when making future policy decisions or when discussing future budgets. In addition, Boards and Commissions would be able to refer to the results. He believed the data will become more and more valuable with time. He reported that the survey results would be posted on the City or Ramsey's website. Commission Business Commissioner Bauer understood the City did not have enough job opportunities locally based on the survey results. He encouraged staff to continue to gather citizen input regarding this topic as it would be valuable when addressing the 2040 Comprehensive Plan. Chairperson Levine was pleased with the direction the. City was heading and discussed how the survey results addressed this vision. He appreciated staff's work on the survey. 5.04: Review and Recommend a Response to the Anoka Conservation District's Draft 2015-2019 Presentation City Planner Anderson presented the staff report stating the Soil and Water Conservation Districts are required to prepare Comprehensive Plans in accordance with the requirements of the Board of Water and Soil Resources (BWSR). The Anoka Conservation District (ACD), whose primary purpose is to address natural resource management challenges within the county, has Planning Commission/December 4, 2014 Page 5 of 9