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Community profile: Ramsey

Growing community reshapes its identity

Note: This is one of a series of community profiles, intended to highlight issues faced by local governments as they begin the process of updating their comprehensive plans.

Over the last 40 years, Ramsey — a once very rural community in Anoka County — has gone through alternating periods of slow and intense growth. More recently it has transformed from what city leaders call a “bedroom community” to an increasingly diverse mix of residential, manufacturing and retail.

The transition is no accident. It is the result of a combination of market forces, regional sewer hook-ups and, in 2000, a focused, community-wide planning process supported by the Metropolitan Council and McKnight Foundation. One result is the new centerpiece of the city’s growth: Ramsey Town Center, a 370-acre mixed-use development along State Hwy. 10 and the future Northstar commuter rail line.

“The town center is a conscious effort to redefine Ramsey’s identity,” explained Patrick Trudgeon, the city’s community development director. “It’s a place to bring people together for recreation, employment, shopping and living.”

The center already includes a new city hall, an 800-stall parking ramp, 95,000 square feet of retail anchored by a large grocery store, a new K-12 charter school with 800 students, 250 new apartments, townhomes and single-family housing units, and new office and industrial facilities. Anticipated development includes senior housing, a community center, medical facilities and a multi-screen cinema.

“This development is located to take advantage of highways and transit,” explained Tom Gamec, mayor of Ramsey. “The goal is to create a hub in the city, a gathering spot. We hope this will become a real jewel for the region, a prime example of transit-oriented development.” Initial development of the town center was aided by two grants from the Metropolitan Council’s Livable Communities program.

In January, with federal funding assistance, the city initiated Ramsey Star Express. The express-coach bus service into downtown Minneapolis features four trips in and four back each weekday at 40 minutes each. As demand grows, the city will add trips. The service is a prelude to what Ramsey hopes will eventually be a stop on Northstar commuter rail. The city is not currently planned to have a stop when initial service opens in 2009.

Transportation is one of the city’s key challenges. The Rum River on the east and the Mississippi River on the west and south create a sort of funnel effect for commuters traveling from farther north in the morning, Gamec said. The primary north-south routes, Hwys. 10 and 47, get very congested during peak periods. Ramsey is using regional loan funds to purchase right-of-way for a future freeway along Hwy. 10. It is also working closely with the county and state to plan improvements to Hwy. 47 and other roads throughout the city.

“We know we can’t achieve our vision for the city alone,” Gamec said. “We’re beating the bushes for every possible source of funding. Cooperation and partnerships with all levels of government are important.”

Another focus of Ramsey’s transition has been housing.

“Ten years ago we were a very homogeneous community, with most of our housing on large lots,” Gamec said. “Now we have a variety of housing types and styles, so that people can stay in Ramsey from 'cradle to grave'.” The city recently created a housing and redevelopment authority to help fill the gaps in its housing stock.

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Ramsey creates many opportunities for residents to help shape the future of the community.

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- Natalie Steffen,
Metropolitan Council District 9

Ramsey is not rejecting its rural past. A large part of the city will remain large-lot residential and rural for the foreseeable future. Two major streams and their adjacent wetlands create natural green corridors in the city, which also features several parks and approximately 30 miles of constructed trails.

Not content to rest on its successes, this year Ramsey – with financial assistance from the McKnight Foundation – is undertaking a new visioning process branded Ramsey 3. The city will first hold a series of four “critical issues forums” with national experts on transportation, innovative zoning, community ecology and regional market forces. That will be followed in May by a community visioning event. The results will feed into a development framework for the city’s 2008 comprehensive plan update.

-- published April 2005 --