Agenda - Council - 02/14/2006 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Introduction The City of Ramsey has experienced significant growth in the past five years, mirroring the overall growth of the Twin Cities Metro Areas. The last Comprehensive Plan adopted by the City in 2001 planned for growth of the community for the next 30 years. Area development pressures have accelerated the absorption of many of the areas reserved for future development. With the Ramsey Town Canter under construction, the City is looking at how the surrounding area will develop. Coupled with the growth of the City and reg/on as well as the proximity to the Ramsey Town Center, the City is interesting in determining if the area surrounding the Ramsey Town Center should developed or redeveloped. It is the belief of the City that an area adjacent to the Ramsey Town Center should be developed in a way that provides for commercial, retail, and office opportunities that will both benefit fr6m as well as be a benefit to the-Ramsey Town Center. This new development is not intended to be a Town Center II or an additional phase. Instead, it is intended to be an area, that while different in development configuration and providing for different types and scale of development, is a complement to the Ramsey Town Center uses. From the 90s to the present, Ramsey has sustained a strong residential, commercial, and industrial growth pattern. Since 1990, approx/mately 3876 new housing starts have occurred adding approximately 10,500 people to the community. Over 2,000,000 square feet of commercial/industrial uses have located within Ramsey since 1998 and bringing over 2,300 new jobs to Ramsey. This trend is expected to continue for at least the next 30 years. Below are Metropolitan Council estimates for population, households and employment. Table l Forecasts for Households, Population, Employment Households 5,906 10,300 15,500 16,500 Population 18,510 30,000 43,000 45,000 Emplo~vment 3,587 6,700 9, 100 11,300 -234- Source: Metropolitan Council Determination of Study Area In order to provide employment and commercial/retail/office opportunities for the new residents, the City must research where additional oppommities can be located. As most vacant land is designated for residential purposes, redevelopment of underutilized and inefficient commercial/industrial parcels need to be considered. The City has actively redeveloped property in areas where the property use is underutilized, inefficient, and/or vacant (i.e. Sunfish Lake Business Park, Hwy. 47 Amoco site, Bakestar, St. Paul Terminals). This has proven to beneficial in many respects as it cleans up contaminated properties, it creates a more productive use of the property, 'and brings in new jobs to the community. The Ramsey Town Center is a 350-acre mixed use, pedestrian friendly development that will contain 2600 housing units and 750,000 square feet of commercial, retail, institutional, office space. The project is occurring on land that was previously 2