Agenda - Council - 12/08/2020 - Laserfiche WebLink

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City of #t- RAMSEY To: Chloe McGuire, Senior Planner From: Sean Sullivan, Economic Development Manager Date: 10/27/20 RE: Rivenwick Village 4th Addition — Land Use Memo 7550 Sunwood Drive NW • Ramsey, MN 55303 City Hall: 763.427.1410 • Fax: 763.427.5543 www.cityoframsey.com The City of Ramsey has been working hard to provide commercial/retail opportunities for Ramsey residents. The City and private developers have had difficulty recruiting commercial/retail projects to Ramsey due to area demographics and site issues. In the COR, the City continues to hear developers and end users indicate that the lack of visibility from Highway 10. Traffic Counts range from 30,000 vehicle trips per day to 60,000 vehicle trips per day on the corridor. Unfortunately, the vehicles (and subsequently potential retail shoppers) and not directly accessed from Highway 10 and not easily visible. This diminishes their market potential. We have worked with developers and end users to provide additional wayfinding signage, but it is no substitute for having direct Highway 10 visibility. Other factors, such as Ramsey's 1 to 10 mile trade area populations, provide challenges for certain restaurant, service and retail businesses. Although our numbers are improving every year, we are not at the point where restaurants, service, and retail businesses are prioritizing Ramsey as a retail ready site. We have to work hard for every commercial/industrial user we get to choose Ramsey. Staff has reviewed the proposed development by Lennar at Rivenwick from an economic development perspective. The development proposal is requesting that a portion of planned land use along Highway 10 west of Suite Living be changed from a commercial to a residential use. Although Staff is excited about the potential for additional "roof -tops" to help our community demographics from a retail perspective as well as filling certain housing needs, the proposed used is not maximizing the development potential of this site. There are not many undeveloped retail zoned sites along Highway 10 in Ramsey with development potential. Based on the limited number of these viable commercial sites in the community, Staff would recommend that land along Highway 10 remain guided for commercial development. It is our mission to work together to responsibly grow our community, and to provide quality, cost-effective and efficient government services.