Agenda - Council Work Session - 01/18/2006 - Ramsey Town Center

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WEST COMMERCIAL AREA By James E. Norman Background: The vision of the west commercial area of the Town Center has quite often been described as being closely related to the "main street" area of the Maple Grove Arbor Lakes project. This means that the buildings would be arranged in close proximity to each other along the street and the parking area would be created behind these buildings, as to resemble a main street of years gone by. As the Council is aware, Shingobee Development, dba Ramdance, has control of the west commercial area through an option agreement with RTC, LLC. During the earlier stages of Ramdance's proposal in late 2003 and early 2004, the vision of the City was captured in site plans and aerial perspectives (Attachments A1 and A2). When Ramdance began working with the Cobom's project and made application for phase I, considerable concessions were made to the first phase while it was always assumed that phases II, III, and IV would maintain the vision of buildings in close proximity along Sunwood Drive (Attachment B). In recent months, Ramdance has considered a number of proposals for development of Phase II, north of the Cobom's project. Staff believes that the project appears to be drifting apart form the original vision that the City maintained for the commercial portion of the Ramsey Town Center. Staff has been reacting in the negative to the various proposals made by Ramdance and would like to seek direction from the Council to determine if the Council still maintains the vision of the commercial portion. Action Statement: Based upon discussion. Reviewed by: City Administrator RTCWS: 01/18/06 -9-