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Ramsey. It also provided a time savings, as there was conversations with a single firm or <br />individual daily rather than multiple firms. This process is contrary to the process that the City of <br />Andover has taken in their housing developments. Interestingly, since the last discussion of this <br />topic at a work session, the City of Andover has asked a series of questions to the City Engineers <br />throughout the State of Minnesota. It appears that although there are some communities that do <br />allow for private installations of public infrastructure, in most cases the trend is towards the City <br />designing and installing all public infrastructure as a capital improvement project at the request <br />of the developer. The main reason is that since the municipality will be maintaining the <br />infrastructure, there should be more control over the design to try to minimize the tendency to <br />design the bare minimum. The Engineering Department is not currently staffed to accommodate <br />internal design of these subdivision proposals to keep pace with development. Staff does feel, <br />however, that there is an opportunity to accomplish the same objectives with the use of a City <br />consultant to provide the design services and contract administration. Another advantage for <br />making this change is to allow for equal opportunity for contractors working within our City as <br />well as providing consistency among all construction plans and specifications. A good deal of <br />the past discussion was the staging of development that was included in the City of Aa~dover's <br />development policy guideline. This staging section has some significant challenges. It is very <br />difficult to predict what development will occur due to the economy and has the potential for <br />encumbering property that has no interest in developing. It was staff's recommendation to <br />discontinue the discussion of this aspect of the guideline and allow the existing property owners <br />and residents the ability to apply for residential subdivisions when they feel that the timing is <br />right. <br /> <br />City Administrator Norman pointed out the fact that if the City states that they are going to only <br />allow parcels to develop within the MUSA then the property owners can hold the developers <br />hostage by increasing the value of their land. He would suggest allowing the market pressures to <br />determine areas of development. <br /> <br />Councilmember Zimmerman stated that if a property owner puts their name on a list, obviously <br />they were interested in developing. <br /> <br />Principal City Engineer Olson stated that he did not think it was a case of a property owner <br />putting their name on a list. <br /> <br />City Administrator Norman noted that Andover has eliminated that process because it does not <br />work. <br /> <br />Councilmember Strorrimen stated that it would be a nice idea to have the City have some control, <br />but instead of identifying pieces of property each year that could be developed, the City could <br />identify what percentage the City wants to grow or not grow each year to try and assure that staff <br />can accommodate the cases. <br /> <br />Mayor Gamec replied that he liked that idea. <br /> <br />City Council Work Session/March 4, 2003 <br /> Page 12 of 16 <br /> <br /> <br />