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.. e FINAL COMMENTS e Following the Characteristics Exercise, participants were asked to share comments. The following comments were offered: . One person who appeared to be a high school student participated and made the comment that there needs to be more of a consideration for the youth population. More needs to be done to involve the youth and give them a choice in how their futures will evolve. . A comment was made regarding the concept of "universal design" accessible architecture. On a broader aspect this comment was in reference to provisions of equal/diverse housing opportunities. . Discussion about the MUSA line was all or nothing. It was a general consensus that there are places in the community that could/should accommodate a MUSA expansion, and areas that could/should not accommodate a MUSA expansion. More specifically the debate is with the expansion into commercial or residential areas. . The question of the bridge did not provide much of an answer. Bridge crossing is important, but does that mean a new bridge or does that mean improve the infrastructure of the Anoka/Champlin crossing? What direction do we go in? . A comment was made to summarize the session "lots of mutual discussion points lead to ideas of intelligent development that preserves the natural resources and identity of Ramsey (such as cluster housing)." . A comment was made regarding the Metropolitan Council's density requirements of 4 and 40 with minimum lot sizes of 10 acres as a factor that slowed growth. . A comment was made that the reason people came to this meeting is because they feel threatened that they may loose their existing lifestyle. . A response to the observation that a discussion on education and schools was absent from the session was because people do not associate the school with the City of Ramsey. They associate the schools with Elk River, or Anoka because that is where they are located. Development in Ramsey has a significant impact on schools. . The Mayor inquired about whether the participants were from urban areas (within the MUSA) or rural areas (north of 153rd Avenue.) The response was very close to an equal split of urban and rural residents. . The Mayor and consultant thanked all participants for coming and helping develop the vision for the City of Ramsey. NEXT STEPS Based on the favorable response from the visioning session and the City's role in making it happen, it is imperative that the public involvement be continued. A series of special group meetings will be held the first few weeks of October. Those meetings will consist of an urban resident meeting, a business owner meeting and two rural resident meetings. The purpose of the special meetings is to identify the critical issues to be addressed in the Comprehensive Plan. The issues will be resolved through a series of focus group meetings. First of all, it is appropriate to properly summarize the Vision and Guiding Principles and circulate them to some or all of the participants to receive feedback. This is a very affective way for a large number of citizens and businesspersons to participate in the process in a meaningful and productive fashion. Citizen participation is needed throughout the process. A draft of the plan will be completed by mid-Spring of 1998. Page 7 Ramsey Vision Session Report