Minutes - Planning Commission - 01/04/2007

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anyone but there was not much study done during those nine months. This will allow them to step backwards for a year or two until this 2008 Comprehensive Plan comes in to look at neighborhoods, how they can transition and all those other issues. His hat is off to the Planning Commission for looking at this. He appreciates that he got a notice on this because when the cluster went through there was very little public input. Mr. Merlyn Hunt, 17860 Nowthen Boulevard NW, stated he did not receive a postcard about this hearing. But he has now been told with what is on the map that his land is already in a 4 in 40 area. One to two years ago someone wanted to buy his place and said he could put 15 or 16 houses on it. He stated the land north of the brook is planned to be developed into municipal lots. Associate Planner Geisler indicated she believes the development Mr. Hunt is referring to is the Brookfield proposal, which was approved. That development is located south of Trott Brook and west ofNowthen Boulevard. Mr. Hunt stated the 40 acres across the road from him has eight lots, with one as small as 1 acre and one as large as 14 acres. What the City is doing is limiting the amount; if it was 2 ~ acres before the City took several hundred thousand dollars of the value of his property by changing it. There are a lot of people that is happening to. It bothers him every time the City decides to change the rules. The same thing happened with the wetlands when the City confiscated 20 feet around all of his pieces of highlands. By the time that got to Council the Fire Chief said the City needs to have 15 feet of distance because there will be a strip of weeds that will be a fire hazard. The City keeps confiscating land and it bothers him. No one pays him for it, but they keep devaluing his property. Mr. Hunt stated when the Brookfield property was being developed and presented he did not have any objections. He said if they develop the way they should and put the right outlets in for the property that is good; it is his land and he can develop it. But now all of a sudden the housing market dies and he has a hard time selling his lots, so the City has to take all this land off the market until some of those lots get sold. No one stepped in and bailed him out when the market dropped a couple of years ago. He does not see why the City has to do that for developers. They put their money in and they anticipate what the market is gong to be; when it goes against them Ramsey should not step in and bail them out. It is a bit disingenuous to say this is being done for the good of Ramsey; they are doing it for the good of Brookfield Development. That should be clear and that is really not legal. Mr. Hunt stated it frustrates him every time he sees the City put ordinances in place that change his property. There are people with one acre lots all over the place. All of a sudden the City sees a nice meadow, and decides they should isolate it and take it away from him so he can't do anything with it. That is his land. The City keeps passing laws and micromanaging the whole place and they do not even have enough policemen and inspectors to follow up on their laws. The intention of this is to take property off the market and he thinks it is wrong. This devalues his property if he wants to sell it. Mr. Steve Schminski, 17333 Wolverine, stated a 24 acre lot to the east of Gibbon and north of 1 73rd Avenue came into their family due to a death. Their intent is to sell this land, not to build on it. He questioned whether this extension to 2008 will turn into 2009 and 2010. They want to know what they can do with this land. To the west ofthe land there are people that live in homes that may be interested in buying it. He questioned if that would be possible. Mr. Schminski Planning Commission/January 4, 2007 Page 19 of 35