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153 Nowthen Boulevard. NW · Ramsey, 'Minnesota 55303 <br /> City I-:tn21: (763) 427-I410 · Fa,'(: ('763) 42'7-5543 <br /> www. ci.ramsey.rrm.us <br /> <br />October [4, 2005 <br /> <br />[)an Bartho[omay <br />Program Officer <br />The McKnight Foundation <br />710 South Second St. <br />$uite 400 <br />Minneapolis, NfN 55401 <br /> <br />Dear Mr. Bartholomay: <br /> <br />h~. 1990, a young MIT professor named Peter Senge wrote The Fifth Discipline, a book that <br />revolutionized management theory and policy analysis. In his book, Senge stated that in this time <br />o ~' rapid change, increasing globalization and technological innovation the old 'ways of planning <br />a~d problem solving no longer apply. The City of Ramsey has experienced this fu'st hand. <br /> <br />Ramsey has had strong growth pressures for the last five years, with increasing pressure in 2005. <br />From 2000 thru 2004, the city approved the development of 1,528 single-family and multi- <br />~'amily residential units. In 2005, thru September, we have received applications to deve!,op <br />aCproximately [,850 units. Metropolitan Council popu!ation projections anticipate Ramsey will <br />double its population sometime in the next 2-3 decades. The main transportation corridor <br />setwing Ramsey, Hwy. 10, is horribly congested a~nd above capacity. Needed improvements (i.e., <br />converting it to a freeway and constructing a bridge over the Mississippi River) are not <br />p~:ogrammcd into Mn_DOT's 20-year plan despite City efforts to make these projects a funding <br />priority. As fbr larger trends that will impact the city, one need only took at the tremendous <br />change in gasoline and fuel prices-over-the last eighteen months and the ongoing impact of <br />[-furdcane Katrina to see how rapid and' unanticipated changes can significantly alter the social <br />arid economic climate in ways we are still trying to understand. <br /> <br />Our exposure to the principles of New Urbanism and Smart Growth as we developed the <br />i~nova[ive Ramsey Town Center project have kindled in us a hunger for and appreciation of new <br />ways o ~' approaching community, development. Through a public-private partnership, the Ramsey <br />Town C~nter is being constructed as a mixed-use, transit oriented development that will give <br />R amsey an identifiable :'downtown," and more importantly alter the traditional "sprawl" that: <br />c ltarac[erizes suburban development. The project will contain 2,400 housing units, 750,000 <br />square ~'eet of commercial and retail spaces, 25 acres of parks, many miles oftrailk, and facilities <br />122r the Northstar Rail Line and Northstar Commuter Bus Line. <br /> <br /> Metropolitan Council has recognized the break-the-mold implications of the Ramsey Town <br />C,mter, noting, ~'Never has an outlying Twin Cities suburb attempted_quite what ,the city of <br />R:tm.,~;ey is doing. Where outlying suburbs typically build out horizontally, Ramsey is building <br />v~:rtically on a fbrmer cornI]eld. Where many have no identifiable downtown, Ramsey is creating <br /> .~dncrive one. Where farther-out suburbs bmld auto-oriented, single-family.- home <br /> <br /> <br />