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pursue turning TCAAP into a regional park, they did direct their staff to work with the City to <br />determine if a portion of the TCAAP property could benefit the regional park system. <br />Since early in the process, the TCAAP reuse plans have included a Wildlife Corridor connecting <br />the Rice Creek area to the National Guard property (the Arden Hills Army Training Site, <br />commonly called AHATS). More recently and with unanimous support from the City Council, <br />Ramsey County is pursuing two additional land transfers from the TCAAP property to enhance <br />the regional system (Attachment A): <br />• Rice Creek South Regional Trail Corridor (29 acres) —This approximately 150 foot wide <br />trail corridor is proposed to connect the Highway 96 Regional Trail to the Rice Creek <br />North Regional Trail that runs along both sides of Rice Creek. <br />• Trailhead Corridor/Primer Tracer Area (76.5 acres) —The County is working with the <br />National Guard and Army to create a trailhead for possible seasonal recreational access to <br />the National Guard property. All or a portion of this property is likely to be transferred to <br />Ramsey County and any portion that is not transferred to Ramsey County maybe <br />removed from the public auction process entirely. The previous planning discussions did <br />not include any development on the Primer Tracer area. <br />If all three transfers take place, the developable area would be reduced by about 29 acres. The <br />Wildlife Corridor and the Primer Tracer area had already been designated as park and open <br />space. <br />When the master planning process started in 2007 in conjunction with the negotiated sale <br />process, the City was working with a developer and held a reasonable belief that the property <br />was going to be redeveloped in the near future. Because of those circumstances, the City needed <br />to create a detailed master plan, in part to evaluate the economics of the project. While the City <br />had significant discussions on such topics as land use layouts, design options, density, and parks, <br />no plans were finalized or adopted by the City. Moreover, none of the discussions were <br />translated into a format that could be incorporated into City zoning regulations. <br />The information collected during the previous planning discussions will likely be a resource for <br />the zoning process and future planning discussions. However, finalizing a detailed master plan <br />prior to the auction would be difficult due to a number of open questions. At this point, the City <br />does not have a development partner or development timeline. The cost of environmental <br />remediation has not been finalized,, which may impact the development layout. Crucial road <br />intersection improvements are needed, which also impacts the development capacity of the <br />property. Finally, until the sale price is known, the economics of the project and what the <br />development could accommodate are difficult to determine. None of these questions are <br />insurmountable, but they will take time to answer and will impact the final development plan. <br />Although there is not a detailed master plan in place for TCAAP, the 2030 Comprehensive Plan <br />was written to set the foundation for a mixed use development on the TCAAP property that <br />would include housing, parks, open space, and businesses (Attachment B). The City Council <br />unanimously expressed support for the mixed use concept in the Comprehensive Plan at their <br />City of Arden Hills <br />1Wetro-inet.usIardenhillslPlanninc, ICoinmuiiity Development)TCAAPPlanfzing -Public Auction)Land Use PlanningW30310 -PC Memo - <br />TCAP Planning Process.doc <br />Page 3 of 8 <br />