Agenda - Council - 08/22/2017 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Community Development Director Gladhill presented the staff report stating The City has been approached by Inland Development Group about a potential market-rate apartment building in Ramsey. In order to set up a smooth review process learning from lessons of the past, the City has prepared Concept/Context Maps and Architectural Renderings on the front end of the Purchase Agreement phase. The Inland Group is looking at purchasing property from the City of Ramsey. Traditionally, these real estate contracts are reviewed by the City's Economic Development Authority (EDA) in the context of real estate management and financial analysis. In the past, the City has identified a need to involve the Planning Commission to a greater degree earlier in the purchase agreement phase to avoid perceptions of full project approval at the time of Purchase Agreement approval. Community Development Director Gladhill explained the purpose of tonight is simply to introduce the topic and see what questions exist as Inland Group continues to discuss with City Staff. He explained there are certainly items that will need to be tweaked and plans to be formally adopted as part of this discussion. Staff believes that this generally meets the spirit and intent of The COR Interim Development Plan. Staff will identify any deficiencies in these concepts in future review with the Planning Commission. This evening is simply a high-level review and introduction. Staff will come with a more formal recommendation on preferred alternatives at future steps. Community Development Director Gladhill stated staff acknowledges that additional discussion needs to occur surround parking strategies and architectural design. The Developer appears to at least be proposing a strategy to attempt to reduce the amount of surface parking required (underground parking). It may be premature to get into great detail on this topic at this stage. Staff is simply attempting to get to a purchase agreement to be able to have more detailed conversations in the near future. Staff requested feedback from the Commission on how to proceed. Commission Business Keith James, Inland Group, thanked the Commission for their time and introduced Inland Group. He stated he has completed 18 communities throughout the country and noted he recently started a development in Eagan, Minnesota. He described the proposed age restricted community and commented on the amenities that would be provided. He reported the demographics in Ramsey show this was a strong market for the proposed development. He believed The COR would be a great location for an Affinity community. Commissioner Surma believed the proposed senior housing would be a complimentary development within The COR. Commissioner Nosan stated she was thrilled to see this type of development being proposed for Ramsey and believed this would be a great option for Baby Boomers and would allow them to remain in the community. Planning Commission / August 3, 2017 Page 14 of 16