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From: <br /> <br />Date: <br /> <br />Re: <br /> <br />City Council, Planning Commission <br /> <br />Patrick Trudgeon, AICP, Community Development Director <br /> <br />January 4, 2005 <br /> <br />Large Lot Development <br /> <br />In response to previous discussions between the City Council and Planning <br />Commission members regarding the :difficulties of large lot (t-, 2.5-, 5-acre) <br />development, Staff has prepared this memo outlining the issue as it pertains to <br />Ramsey. <br /> <br />Staff feels that new large lot developments are problematic for the City of Ramsey <br />for two main reasons; 1) there is a already a sufficient number of large lots within the <br />City of'Ramsey and 2) that the creation of new large lot developments will cause <br />more sprawl within Ramsey and bring with it, the associated negative effects. Below <br />is a discussion of both points. <br /> <br />Rural/Urban lot mix: The City of Ramsey has had several periods of growth. The <br />first wave of development occurred in the e~ly 1970's and consisted wholly of large <br />lot (1- to 5-acre) development served by individual septic systems and private wells. <br />The National economic conditions led to a slowdown to Ramsey's growth in the late <br />70's and early 80's. In 1985, municipal sewer and water were made available to a <br />small area in southeast Ramsey. It wasn't until 1989, however, that substantial <br />residential development served by urban services began. In that year, the City <br />amended its Comprehensive Plan designating three districts outside of the MUSA, <br />the Urban Reserve, the Rural Transition Area, and the Rural Service Area..In January <br />of 1990 the City implemented a regional -growth tool for these three areas, "4 in 40" <br />density requirements. The intent of this zoning requirement were to. encourage <br />growth within the MUSA and preserve large tracts of land (at least 10 acres) outside <br />the MUSA for future orderly expansiOn and thus accommodate regional growth <br />within the capacity of the regional system (roads and sewers). <br /> <br />In the early parts of the 1990's, Ramsey saw a similar growth spurt to the one it had <br />experienced in the early 1970's. The difference from the 70's, however, was that a <br />large portion of the new construction were on small lots that received urban services. <br />This trend has continued through to today, with about 95% of all housing permits <br />issued going to lots that are served by City Sewer and Water, <br /> <br /> <br />