Continue Review Housing Plans and Policies

The purpose of this case is to continue a discussion from from the February 24, 2020 City Council Work Session regarding housing plans and policies within the City. Based on direction from that Work Session, the focus of today's work session is to have a conversation about this history of The COR (formerly Ramsey Town Center). Based on direction from the City Council, Staff will only have brief introductory remarks, leaving the balance of time for discussion by the City Council. 

At the request of the City Council, the purpose of this case is to review various housing plans and policies within the City. Broadly speaking, the City has aimed to provide a variety of housing options that provide a variety of housing opportunities without leaving Ramsey. This includes a broad spectrum of entry-level housing, move-up/executive style housing, to aging in place and senior housing. 

1. Review History of Downtown Master Plan and Housing Plan
2. Define Pause
   1. Housing/Property Type
      1. City Owned
      2. Private Property
      3. Market Rate
      4. Affordable
      5. Low Income
      6. Senior
      7. General Occupancy
3. Study Elements
   1. Retail Market Analysis
   2. Downtown Master Plan

The housing market has seen significant changes in the past 10 to 15 years. The City has achieved a number of our housing goals and provided a diverse housing stock that provides opportunities for residents but also insulates from changing market conditions by not focusing too much on any one housing type. With the recent update to our Comprehensive Plan and check in with the Comprehensive Housing Study by Maxfield, it is a good time to check in with the City Council on current policies and future direction. 

There are multiple resources and tools available to the City Council to frame this policy conversation.

• Land Use Chapter: 2040 Comprehensive Plan
• Housing Chapter: 2040 Comprehensive Plan
• The COR Development Plan
• Official Zoning Map/Zoning Code (City Code Chapter 117)
• Comprehensive Housing Study (Maxfield, 2019) 
• City-Owned Land Sale Policy

The City Council has previously indicated a desire to focus a discussion on multifamily housing plans and policies. In addition, based on recent single-family subdivision review, the changing market and lot sizes of single-family neighborhoods is also a potential discussion point. The purpose of this case is to better define the scope of the policy question for future policy discussions.

The previous Work Session was an overview of the City's various housing plans and policies and was intentionally kept at high-level discussion in order to better scope the question at hand. This is a continued introduction to a very broad topic. Future discussions will include more granular detail in presentations. 

30 minutes

This case is being handled as part of normal Staff duties. 

Deputy City Administrator

The desired outcome of this case is to provide broad policy direction to Staff and potential updates to City housing plans and policies.