Review Concept Plan for 175 Unit Market Rate Apartment in The COR; Case of Inland Group

The City has been approached by Inland Development Group about a potential market-rate apartment building in Ramsey.

In order to set up a smooth review process learning from lessons of the past, the City has prepared Concept/Context Maps and Architectural Renderings on the front end of the Purchase Agreement phase. The Inland Group is looking at purchasing property from the City of Ramsey. Traditionally, these real estate contracts are reviewed by the City's Economic Development Authority (EDA) in the context of real estate management and financial analysis. In the past, the City has identified a need to involve the Planning Commission to a greater degree earlier in the purchase agreement phase to avoid perceptions of full project approval at the time of Purchase Agreement approval.

The purpose of tonight is simply to introduce the topic and see what questions exist as Inland Group continues to discuss with City Staff. It is not the purpose of tonight to complete a full-scale site plan review. The concepts attached to the case are just concepts to frame a policy discussion. The ultimate site plan is likely to look different by the time of construction.

There are certainly items that will need to be tweaked and plans to be formally adopted as part of this discussion. Staff believes that this generally meets the spirit and intent of The COR Interim Development Plan. Staff will identify any deficiencies in these concepts in future review with the Planning Commission. This evening is simply a high level review and introduction. Staff will come with a more formal recommendation on preferred alternatives at future steps.

Staff acknowledges that additional discussion needs to occur surround parking strategies and architectural design. The Developer appears to at least be proposing a strategy to attempt to reduce the amount of surface parking required (underground parking). It may be premature to get into great detail on this topic at this stage. Staff is simply attempting to get to a purchase agreement to be able to have more detailed conversations in the near future.

Notification is not required at this time.

Staff is posing the following high-level policy questions for the Planning Commission. This is not a specific site plan review, but an opportunity to better guide site selection and architectural design. Staff is attempting to incorporate recent Planning Commission comments about process and quality of projects into a better review process, especially for City-owned land sales, while not creating an over burdensome process.

1. Are there any of the concepts that are simply non-starters and should be taken off the table now?
2. Are there specific questions the Planning Commission wants the Developer to answer at future meetings? As the project is simply seeking potential sites in Ramsey, there will be several opportunities for the Planning Commission and Developer to interact in the future.

Notes on Residential/Retail Balance

A number of Ramsey Residents have expressed a concern about the amount of housing being built in Ramsey recently, without seeing a corresponding amount of retail development as of yet. Staff proposes the following talking points to aide in that discussion. This is not an exhaustive list of talking points on this topic, but a concise mention of the broader goal in the context of land use review.

1. The City does have a plan for approximately 100 acres of retail development and aggressively attempts to recruit retailers that will add value to the community for many years to come.
2. The City is also planning for nearly 100 acres of new industrial growth. 120,000 square feet of new industrial space is being reviewed. Although the City cannot guarantee this development will ultimately develop, there are positive signs for commercial/industrial growth.
3. While additional residential growth is planned for within The COR, the planned housing is nearly 60% complete.
4. When recruiting retailers to the community, many share the need for additional housing units in Ramsey to provide the necessary demographics/population to shop in their stores. The City attempts to find that balance of land use planning through its Comprehensive Plan.
5. As the City grows its employment base, it aims to provide adequate housing to support the workers that work in our existing and future industrial parks.
6. Housing concentrated in strategic locations is part of a broader growth management strategy that allows the community to balance and retain its defined rural character.

This case is being handles as part of normal Staff duties. The project is being proposed on City-owned property.

Staff does not have a recommendation at this time other than a request to provide high-level policy direction.

No specific action is being requested. Staff is seeking general consensus on high-level policy direction. If there are questions that the Planning Commission desires the Developer to answer at a future date, now is the time to get these questions on the record.