02. Vision & Guiding Principles - Laserfiche WebLink

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2001 Comprehensive Plan Amended February 26, 2002 B. Guiding Principles A Place for Well Planned and Controlled Growth: Ramsey is a growing community that enjoys its urban amenities and embraces the elements of a rural lifestyle. Future development should be well planned and consistent with the vision of the City. Future development should reflect the community's lifestyle by protecting open space and key natural features, thus, maintaining and enhancing property values. A Place with a Sustainable Clean and Healthy Environment: It is important for residents, business, and industry to be environmentally sensitive and make a conscientious effort to maintain a clean and healthy environment. We must pass on our clean air and clean water to our children and future generations. All future development should minimize the negative environmental impacts on the Region's ecological system ensuring that the built environment is in harmony with the natural environment. A Place to Preserve Natural Resources: Ramsey has an abundance of natural resources. As development occurs, these resources become more threatened. It is important to preserve and protect areas that may be suitable to development but more desired for their natural use such as wetlands for storm water infiltration, slope preservation for erosion control or woodlands and prairies for wildlife habitat. Encouraging environmentally sensitive design and development will help preserve these natural resources. A Provider of Quality Public Services: The City of Ramsey has consistently provided good public services at an affordable price to keep the community safe, peaceful, clean and efficient. In the future, more demand will be placed on these services. Public services are a necessity to the safety, well-being, and success of any community. It is important for the City to continue to strive for excellence in the delivery of its services. A Place to Play and Recreate: Because Ramsey is predominantly a "bedroom community" that is comprised mostly of young families, it is important that there be an abundance of passive and active recreational opportunities for all residents, particularly its youth. Future development should ensure that an appropriate amount of open space be preserved for trails, parks and places to gather and enjoy recreational activities. A Place with a Good Image: Ramsey is a community with a struggling image as evidenced by the Highway 10 Corridor and the once active landfill. However, that struggling image is counteracted by a strong identity that is framed by our rural lifestyle, our location along two rivers and our wealth of natural resources. We must identify the elements that will enhance compatibility of these negative images and mm liabilities into assets. The Highway 10 Corridor must become a gateway into the community and develop and redevelop in a fashion that presents a positive image for the City of Ramsey. We must build upon the elements, which contribute to our identity. A Place with a Variety of Housing Opportunities: We should encourage, where possible, residential developments providing a full range of housing opportunities from large lots to moderate sized lots, from large homes to small homes and from high valued housing to modest valued housing. Our housing stock should allow residents the opportunity to remain in the community and become life-long residents by affording them opportunities to move into alternative forms of housing as their life-styles change over time. 2001 Ramsey Comprehensive Plan Amended February 26, 2002 Page 11-2