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162 <br />strong partnership in both planning for, and renovating and developing fields and facilities to meet <br />increasing demands. <br />`Study the need for a Community Center that offers a variety of recreational uses for <br />all age groups' <br />Status: Through the Resilient Communities Program partnership with the University of Minnesota, <br />the City is organizing a number of different evaluations on how a Community Center may be <br />structured to meet the future needs of residents. These studies will inform City Council on the way <br />forward, with this discussion expected to occur later in 2018. <br />Public Engagement <br />Since the early 1990s, Ramsey has engaged residents purposely and consciously in their <br />neighborhood park planning with good success. This approach creates ownership in their public <br />spaces. More recently, the City of Ramsey has undertaken a variety of engagement efforts, citywide <br />that directly and indirectly affect decision making about the park system. The responses to all those <br />efforts have highlighted the importance of parks, recreation, trails, and open space on the quality of <br />life in Ramsey. Access to parks and trails, coupled with high -quality open space —even if only <br />visually, evokes a sense of rural character and is a significant reason that people choose to live and <br />invest in the community and thus, parks, trails greenways should remain a priority for on -going <br />municipal investment. <br />As part of the specific engagement effort for this Comprehensive Plan Update, the City of Ramsey <br />has held several meetings and workshops, along with other engagement tools. Specifically, we have <br />heard Ramsey should: <br />• Prioritize preservation along Trott Brook. <br />• Begin addressing reconstruction of aging/existing parks. <br />• Develop a plan for filling in trail gaps in the community —especially in the northern tier of <br />the community, and along arterial roadways. <br />• Find a balance in investment between larger Community Parks and Neighborhood Parks. <br />o A few of our newer subdivisions are asking for parks to be included within their <br />new neighborhood. <br />o Many existing neighborhoods desire updating of play structures —some less than 15 <br />years old, some exceedingly beyond their useful life. <br />• Preserve open space along the Mississippi River as a priority. <br />• Focus new park efforts on <br />o Future Community Park #6 (north central portions of the city) <br />o The COR (at the top of the list is a splash pad/water recreation) <br />o Lake Itasca Park (natural resource -based development, lake access and the <br />proposed Lake Itasca Greenway—connecting The COR) <br />There were related comments with more of a focus on Ramsey's ecological resources, such as <br />"Protect Mississippi River and Rum River from shoreline erosion," and those comments are <br />included in Ramsey's Natural Resources Plan. <br />Cily of RAMSEY <br />August 2018 Draft <br />Comprehensive Plan 2040 <br />