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e e Charles Johnson, 6010 159th lane NW, Ramsey,MN. 9/18/97 Mayor Gamac and City Counsel Members I have taken interest not only in the development of my city, but the entire metropolitian area. From my observations and discussions in this city where my family lives, the Bloomington / Eden Prairie area where my business is, and the plite of other cities around the area, I have found several developmental issues that concern me. I understand that your hands may appear tied in alot of ways on how you can manage the development of this city. The Met Counsel has . mandated their plan for our growth which apears to be an attemp to force high density low income housing to be spread metro wide, with it's crime and scurge, rather than containing and managing it. These problems are. now shared with everyone. I think my other major concern, which covers several issues, is the natural enviromental development of this city and metropolitain are~. We need to better manage our green space. We need to take a look at examples, Washington County, Cott..age Grove, and recently Eden Prairie in our state, and also how other communities accross the country are dealing with these .issues. Cluster housing how it is met to be, not the pathetic excuse in Ramsey, full city or country lots with the houses clusted together so that there is more open green space, more ofa park like setting. Town Homes and apartments need to have more acrerage as well, the idea is not to see how many poeple can live in a smali area, but how much green space we can conserve, so that we can develop beautiful functional communities, not inner city suburbs. how the Met Counsel would like it. My brother lives in Burnsville in a townhome and there is significantly more green space than the new project off of Sunfish Blvd. which I watched you approve in disbelief. I wish I would have said something at the time. \!tIe needto change our policies. Learn from your mistakes, don't continue to pass this kind of developement because you set presidence and feel obligated to continue on this path to a lower level community. Let the Met Counsel deal with those problems where they are, don't let them bring them to us. What kind of luck did Chaska have with this issue? The park space for each development put asside there, not down the road, so that green space can be enjoyed as walking / biking paths and park space. We need to create neighborhoods not developments. These are the things that are going to make our city and ollr metro area desirable, THE BEST PLACES TO LIVE! You must not allow some to get wealthy at the expence of the future quality ofthis city. You don't need to be blamed for yom mistakes, but praised for your achievements in the future. You have in your hands the quality of life in this city now and in the future and have an opportunity to create something we can all be proud of. Thank you for your time. Conserned, Charles Johnson