Minutes - Council Work Session - 05/11/2022 - Joint WS

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that the City looks at the MUSA area for its infrastructure to determine where trunk lines should be located and how they should be sized to address the future capacity need. Councilmember Musgrove asked if the infrastructure is laid out parallel to the roads. She noted sections that appear to be missing the infrastructure and would seem to make more sense to be included in the MUSA rather than extending infrastructure further north. She commented that the MUSA area does not seem to be thoughtfully drawn out. Interim City Administrator/Community Dev. Director Hagen stated that as Ramsey became a city many of the homes already existed in the township. He stated that as infrastructure is added throughout the years, it often tends to follow the developable opportunities on large tracts of land. He stated that it would not seem to make sense to identify an area for connection that was already constructed with homes on wells and septic on two plus acre lots. He explained that it makes more sense to identify areas that could be developed that could meet the density requirements of the Metropolitan Council. Planning Commissioner Walker asked why a property would be placed in a MUSA district when there is no available infrastructure. Community Development Director/Deputy City Admin Hagen provided an analogy noting that someday that property could be developed on City services. He noted that the first step would be to identify the property for City services and then zoning would follow that would guide how the property could be subdivided in the future. Planning Commissioner Walker stated that if someone were to purchase a property on Green Valley road that were 40 acres in size and realized the cost to run infrastructure,that may deter the decision to purchase the property. He asked if it would make more sense to zone the property as future MUSA as the infrastructure is not available in that area. Planning Manager Larson reviewed the staging plan, which dictates where energy should be focused now, in the near future, and in the longer-term future. He noted that staging would allow for the infrastructure to be extended in that manner. Planning Commissioner Walker commented that in the case he is speaking of the Commission granted a variance which did not require the resident to connect to City services which were still 1.5 miles from his property. Interim City Administrator/Community Dev. Director Hagen stated for that case, a variance was required because of the way the City Code is written. He stated that the Code could be amended to determine what would be considered accessible in terms of connecting to City services for large acre parcels. Planning Commissioner Walker commented that if there is service available within a reasonable distance, it would make sense to require the connection. He did not believe it was appropriate to require connection if the services are not available. City Council Joint Work Session/May 11, 2022 Page 14 of 16