Agenda - Council Work Session - 10/22/2024

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EXTERNAL EMAIL ALERT:This email originated from outside the City of Ramsey email system. Unless you recognize the sender and know the content, DO NOT click any links or open attachments.. Councilmember Howell: Not all that long ago, an inquiry was made by members of the Council as to whether land use applications to the City were, or could be, restricted to the owner of the property for which the proposal was being made. The basic process in Ramsey is found in §106-211,which governs all of the applications listed in §106.210. That section provides for separate names and contact information for the property owner and the applicant. Further, §106.211 (7)requires disclosure of"the applicant's and/or owner's designated representative' business name, address, telephone number, and email address." Under current Code, any type of land use application must have all of the above information and could very easily require the disclosure of as many as three or four interested parties to the land use proposal: the owner,the owners designated representative, the applicant and the applicant's representative. Can the City require that only the owner of a property apply? There is nothing preventing the City from creating that kind of restriction. It should be noted,however,that many kinds of circumstances could be anticipated where an owner, through infirmity, seasonal absence from the state, or a lack of any sophisticated understanding of the nature of the detail of the application(e.g. where complex construction or zoning proposals are involved) could be prejudiced by such a specific exclusion. It is not uncommon for cities to insist on personal (but not exclusive) presence of a property owner(where possible) on matters related to a property land use applications, even where the proposal itself has been generated by a third party developer and is highly sophisticated in nature. Common practice, reflected in Ramsey's code, is to allow representatives and surrogates to interact with the City as well, often on a primary level. Fvttk: