04/28/1994 - Laserfiche WebLink

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INNOVATION1. Maplewood approves open space referendum TIM BUSSE :4 he idea of open space has been part of city master plans since William Penn carefully laid out the street grids in Philadelphia in the late 1600s. While many cities have embraced the idea for aesthetic, psychological, and financial reasons, Maplewood is taking the idea as far as any city in Minnesota ever has. In November of 1992, voters in Maplewood approved the Open Space Referendum allowing the city to issue and sell $5 million worth of general obligation bonds to buy open space in the city. In just a few years, Maplewood has gone from an "incomplete" open space plan, to a unique process of identifying open spaces, setting criteria for purchase, and approving a sizable funding mechanism to purchase the land. A developers' land -exchange proposal began the discussion of open space in Maplewood. "At one of my monthly Mayor's Forums, someone brought up the city's lack of a complete open space plan," said Maplewood Mayor Gary Bastian. "There was some council discussion on the issue, and from that came the idea of citizen involvement to acquire open space." So in 1991, Bastian and the Maplewood City Council created the Open Space committee and appointed 12 residents to serve on the committee. The Committee's charge was four pronged: Define open space Identify possible areas throughout the city that met the definition Make recommendations regarding the acquisition of the property Become involved with a possible referendum for open space funding. Soon after settling on a definition of open space, the committee recruited the DNR to take aerial photos of the entire city to document open space sites. Sixty- six sites met the definition. The commit- tee then created a unique rating system to objectively evaluate each site. Distance to other open sites, vista of open space, ecological sensitivity, historical signifi- cance, accessibility, city maintenance costs, and neighborhood participation were just some of the 54 criteria used to evaluate each site. "The committee chairman put together a computer program to rate, each site" Bastian explained. "With those evaluations, we were able to bring the number of sites down to 19." In 1992, the committee presented the city council with an endorsement to place a funding referendum on the ballot for purchase of the top 19 sites. "When we put the referendum on the ballot, we knew that if it was going to sell, it couldn't be done by the city," says Bastian. "We said to our residents, `it's on the ballot, if you want it, go get it." The residents of Maplewood did just that. Supporters throughout the city recognized the opportunity they had to preserve wetlands, tree stands, and the open space in their neighborhoods. Many of the people who served on the Open Space Committee became the leaders of the cause—hosting information- al'meetings and, urging people to vote in favor of the referendum. In November 1992, 54 percent of voting residents answered yes to the following ballot question. "...Shall the City of Maplewood, Minne- sota, be authorized to issue and sell general obligation bonds in an amount not to exceed $5, 000, 000 to finance the acquisition of land for open space. " The new tax levy will raise almost $437,000 the first year. City officials estimate the maximum increase in property tax levy to be .03263 percent of the city's taxable market value—or 33 cents for each $1,000 of market value. After approval of the referendum, the city council adopted an eight -step process to direct the city in its purchase of open space. Step 1: Reappoint a six member subcommittee of the original Open Space Committee and advertise for three additional volunteers. Have the new committee review and comment on the availability and ranking of the 66 parcels. Step 2: Contact relocation/acquisition specialists about their services and associated costs. Step 3: Direct city staff to obtain Ramsey County assessor's market values of all available parcels on the Open Space Committee's list. Step 4: Have the Parks and Recreation Commission and the Open Space Committee act as advisory boards during the acquisitions. Step 5: Appoint the city manager (or designee) as the staff person responsible for this project including negotiations. Step 6: Direct staff to prepare an ordinance which requires an extraordi- nary vote of the city council to sell any acquired open space properties. This is being investigated as a way to guarantee that the purchased property will remain open space in future years. Step 7: Direct'staff to investigate different methods of handling the direct negotiations with property owners of potential purchases. Staff recommenda- tions should be brought back to the city council for consideration. Step 8: Provide an open space update at each city council meeting. In January, the City Council appointed a new Open Space Committee which is re-evaluating the original list of 66 sites, and will submit a revised priority list to the city council in late February. Mayor Bastian has been telling people that the easy part is over. Now comes the difficult task of actually acquiring the open space. "The value of the land obviously has gone up because we've expressed interest in it," says Bastian. "We have to work to give these landown- ers a fair price, while keeping in mind what we set out to do." Innovations is a new column in Minnesota Cities focusing on city efforts to do things differently, explore new possibilities, and looh at old problems in new ways. If your city has an innovation call Tim Busse at the League at (612) 490.5600.