Agenda - Public Works Committee - 02/20/2018

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Motion by Councilmember Johns, seconded by Councilmember Kuzma, to recommend that the City Council authorize the work order with Bolton and Menk for Highway 10 Planning and Design Services in the amount of $499,855, contingent upon staff sharing the information with the coalition. Motion carried. Voting Yes: Chairperson Riley, Councilmembers Johns and Kuzma. Voting No: None. Community Development Director Gladhill stated that he wanted to give the student group that worked on Highway 10 an opportunity to share some ideas and their framework. Jonathan Reisetter stated that they were part of a land use planning class that worked on Highway 10, specific to Ramsey. He stated that as outsiders they see that Ramsey struggles for geographical notoriety, as the city was developed later and lacked a town center until more recently. He stated that the highway has served as a main street and thoroughfare and during their study they focused on image, business, and connections. Chris Desroches stated that the image and connectability of Highway 10 do not match Ramsey. He explained that they looked at improving the aesthetic and the entrance to Ramsey. He noted that they would recommend creating a placemaking entrance to the City and carrying that throughout the City in order to better identify Ramsey; using the example of signage. He stated that another element would be the business aspect of Highway 10 and how that could be improved; working with the existing business owners. He recognized the high number of properties that are owned by the City, or have been vacant for over five years. He stated that there is a lot of traffic traveling through the City on Highway 10 and perhaps rather than holding the farmers market on a Thursday within The COR, that could be held on a Friday, on land adjacent to Highway 10, to take advantage of the traffic heading north. Councilmember Kuzma asked if the signage used within The COR would be transferred into the Highway 10 corridor. Chris Desroches replied that would be a question for the City to answer, whether they would like to continue that signage or create separate signage for the Highway 10 corridor. Community Development Director Gladhill stated that the City could take their branding information and apply that to this concept. Chris Desroches stated that Highway 10 is the main artery into Ramsey and therefore a lot of the experience is traveling through that corridor. He stated that you would want that theme to be something that people will remember. He advised that they also focused on connections and stated that currently there is a lot of way finding signage for business along the corridor. He noted that you would want to provide valuable connections to the places you want people to go. Chairperson Riley asked if they have access to this information as this was a high-level presentation. Public Works Committee / January 16, 2018 Page 7 of 14