01/08/2007 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Search

Anoka County Multi -- Jurisdictional All Hazards Mitigation Plan Public lands: Currently the City has approximately 350 acres of public parks, which includes 21 neighborhood parks and two regional parks. One regional park is adjacent to the City Hall (Lions Park) and provides ball fields, soccer fields, tennis courts, picnic facilities, walking trails, playground facilities, large covered shelter (200 capacity) restrooms and concession stand. The other is Ham Lake Park (over 100 acres), adjacent to Ham Lake, with many of the same amenities but also includes an indoor shelter, public boat access and fishing pier. The concentration has been on developing citywide regional parks, as opposed to neighborhood parks. A trail system has been established to provide safe pathways for bikes and pedestrians, and is implemented as land develops and /or street construction projects take place. Private fee areas: Majestic Oaks Golf Course consists of 330 acres (two eighteen -hole and one nine -hole courses) and is a privately owned facility that must remain open to the public through a development agreement through 2030. Ham Lake Sportsman Club is a clay target range and Ham Lake Campgrounds is located adjacent to Ham Lake with 143 sites available. Carlos Avery Game Farm abuts the City to the east. It is a 106 -acre wildlife management area that allows permit hunting. Agriculture and forestry: Of the thirty -six square miles comprising Ham Lake, three square miles are sod fields. There are approximately 4,000 acres of land in the City that is presently either actively farmed for crops, used as pasture, or remains wooded. In terms of contiguous tracts suitable for conventional agriculture, there are nine sites containing as much as 160 continuous acres of land suitable for such purposes. The eastern portion of the City contains the greatest amount of suitable farmland. The City does not consider animal feedlots compatible with urban settlement. 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 seven commercial zoning classifications. I -P (Industrial Park); CD -1, CD -2, CD -3, CD -4 (Commercial Development 1,2,3,4, with each allowing specific uses) and GF (Government Facilities). The City of Ham Lake has approximately 200 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, Landborg Industrial Park, Larson's Commercial Park 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.