Agenda - Environmental Policy Board - 10/01/2007

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CASE # 2 OPEN SPACE REFERENDUM UPDATE By: Chris Anderson, Environmental Coordinator Background: As the Board knows, Staff and members of the EPB attended the September 25 work session to discuss with Council the concept and feasibility of an open space referendum question for the 2008 election ballot. At the request of the EPB, Cordelia Pierson with the Trust for Public Land (TPL) also attended the work session to help address questions regarding the referendum process. Council discussion seemed to focus on the public opinion survey/poll and determining resident priorities. Some of the arguments and/or questions that were raised include: . The City already has around forty (40) parks, so why is there a need for more parkland? . Why doesn't Staff just utilize the Ramsey Resident newsletter to conduct a public opmlOn survey? . What the priorities of the residents are? (maybe there's more interest in a community center or subsidized housing rather than open space) . Every household should be contacted rather than a just a sampling ofthe population, especially if this can be done at or around the same costas a statistically significant sample of the community. Ultimately, Council determined that more information was necessary before any formal direction/action would be taken. This topic will be rescheduled for another work session sometime in the near future. It should be noted that prior to the work session, Staff and several members of the EPB met with Ms. Pierson to discuss this process in more detail. Ms. Pierson suggested exploring the use of private funding for a public poll, through an organization such as Embrace Open Space (EOS). EOS has identified Ramsey as a priority city based on the expected growth and the quantity/quality of natural resources in the community. Thus, if the City submitted a technical assistance letter to EOS requesting funding for a public poll, there is a high likelihood that EOS would provide some or all of the funding necessary to complete the survey. Recommendation: Through other venues, such as the comp plan meetings and the Ramsey3 process, the concept of an open space referendum, which would provide a funding mechanism to secure some of the remaining natural areas/open spaces, has been mentioned. Furthermore, throughout the Ramsey3 process, there was a questionnaire for residents asking them to identify the five (5) best things about Ramsey. At the top of that list was the natural environment (trees, wetlands, greenways, etc). This would seem to demonstrate that natural resources are indeed a priority for residents. However, at this time it may be prudent to reach out to residents to establish a more definable, tangible and vocal support base to move this forward. EPB Action Based on discussion. EPB: 10/1/07