08-12-2019 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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Anoka County 2019 Multi-Jurisdictional All Hazards Mitigation Plan 145 It is expected that the housing market, will eventually lead most of the farming operations to convert to single-family residential uses. Finally, in that sod-farming activity does result in removal of soil, existing sod farms will eventually return to their former status as wetland and be used as open space and wildlife habitat. It is the City’s intention to prevent the reclaiming of sod farmland by adopting controls that enhance the return of these lands to a natural wetland state. The urban forest of Ham Lake is comprised of individual stands of native trees, which include: oak, maple, pine, and lowland species. The City has implemented a Shade Tree Disease Control Program. Commercial and industrial development and trends: Ham Lake currently has eight commercial zoning classifications. I-P (Industrial Park); I-1 (Light Industrial); CD-5 (Commercial Development 1,2,3,4,5 with each allowing specific uses) and GF (Government Facilities). The City of Ham Lake has approximately 400 businesses located in the city. There are currently 5 active major industrial/commercial parks and almost all of the rest of the businesses are abutting the Trunk Highway 65 corridor. The commercial/industrial parks are: Ham Lake Industrial Park (22 light industrial businesses ranging from machine shops to construction companies); Bunker Lake Commercial Park, Majestic Oaks Commercial Park, Fox Tail Ridge, Christensen, Stone Estates, North Pine, Rosewood Addition, Lachinski, and Enterprise Plaza. All commercial/industrial parks maintain high standards of building construction and are occupied by concrete block buildings. An additional two small industrial Parks are Wybrite and Gilpin, which house only five small businesses. The major retail area of the City is located at Trunk Highway 65 and Crosstown Blvd. This area contains the supermarket, bank, library, and numerous smaller retail facilities. The City will continue to focus to develop/redevelop this area. Neighborhood commercial centers are and will be used to provide convenience facilities in the eastern portion of the City. Residential development and trends: Currently, the City has eight residential zoning categories: R-1 (Single-Family Residential); R-2 (Multi-Family Residential); R-A (Rural Single Family Residential); RS-1 (Shoreland Residential – General Development); RS-2 (Shoreland Residential – Recreational Development); R-M (Manufactured Home); PUD (Planned Unit Development); and R-AH (Affordable Housing District). The City of Ham Lake has over 5,000 dwelling units (which includes approximately 450 units for low-income families and senior citizens), with room for perhaps another 1,600. Included in this total are 285 mobile home units in the Flamingo Terrace Mobile Home Park. 90% of all housing in the City is single-family housing. Only about 2/3 of the City’s 23,040 acres are even capable of being developed, but approximately 2,560 acres of this are (or will be) used for parklands, road right-of-way, commercial uses and golf courses, reducing the developable area for residential use to about 58% of the total land area (approximately 13,363 acres). The City prefers to continue to allow all development at a residential density of at least 1.0 acre per unit, both to keep a rural feel and the logistics of attempting to service a community that is comprised of approximately one-third wetlands with a municipal sewer/water. Users of the sewer system must pay for the system, and the cost extending lines across hundreds of acres