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- 8 - 5. Full Central As may be required by massive contamination or septic Public Sewer failure. System Although this approach may not be specifically applicable for Ramsey, the basic concept of closely monitoring the situation and immediately weeding out the prob- lems would be appropriate for the City. The City may even need to consider con- demning individual dwellings whose sewage disposal systems cannot feasibly be made to operate within acceptable.standards, III. FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS 1. Ramsey's proposed plan amendment consists of an "Urban Planning District Report". The amendment is not intended to be a complete comprehensive plan but does establish very basic development policies for the City which have been reviewed only for ade- quacy and consistency with the Metropolitan Development Framework policies and Metro- politan System Plans. 2. Metropolitan Council review of this proposed amendment will not exempt the City of Ramsey from responsibilities established by the Metropolitan Land Planning Act and the planning standards and guidelines established for the Mississippi Critical Area. 3. Ramsey~s proposed Urban Service Area is generally consistent with the Development Framework with the following exceptions: a. The City's Urban Service Area incorporates more developable land than needed according to the Development Framework. The size of the City's Urban Service Area should be reassessed after the City receives revised Council forecasts. b. The City plans to rezone the Urban Service Area for urban development immediately. This would be premature because it is prior to the planned expansion of the MUSA (1981-90) and the availability of metropolitan sewer service (1981 at the very earliest). Some interim zoning is needed. c. The Urban Service Area should be subdivided into five-year planning areas. Urban Development should be coordinated with the provision of services to these planning areas and not permitted prior to availability of urban services. 4. Ramsey's proposed Rural Service Area is generally consistent with the Development Framework. 5. Ramsey's proposed Transition Area is not consistent with the Development Framework because it would foster continued extensive development at 2% acre densities which is clearly hrban in character. The Transition Area should be incorporated as part of the Rural Service Area and rezoned accordingly. 6. The City has reserved 160 acres for development of a major retail shopping center while the Development Framework has not indicated any location in Ramsey as a potential Major Diversified Center. The Minnesota Highway Department has also indicated that even the initial stages of a shopping facility at this location would tax the current capacity of the highway system. Ramsey should reduce the size of the commercial area to be more in scale with a neighborhood center. Furthermore, any commercial develop- ment should either be consistent with the highway capacity or the City should state how this increased capacity will be provided. 7. The City's transportation assumptions are not entirely consistent with Anoka County plans. The City's plan is premised on construction of a Rum River bridge at an early date (within § years) while the Anoka County Highway Department has not yet scheduled such construction and has indicated that the bridge will not be built for at least 10 years. 8. The City's Waste Management assumptions are not entirely consistent with the Council's . Waste Management Policy Plan. a. The City assumes a metropolitan sewer service outlet near its border and TH 47 while no such outlet is currently provided in the Waste Management Policy Plan or Development Program. b. Ramsey should request and indicate the need for this additional service outlet in the sewer element of its comprehensive development plan. This will initiate the amendment procedure o~ the Policy Plan. IV. RECOMMENDATION It is recommended that the Ramsey Comprehensive Plan Amendment be found inconsistent with the Metropolitan Development Framework, until the issues in this review are resolved. Although the City's general approach to its urban and rural service area could be made consistent with the Metropolitan Development Framework with minor adjustments, the City's policies for a Transition Area are very inconsistent. It ia further recommended that the City of Ramsey use the comments in this review as a basis for the further planning required by the Metropolitan Land Planning Act.