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<br />City of Gem Lake Comprehensive Plan GEMLK 140643 <br />Page 103 <br />• The Vadnais Lake Water Management Organization (VLAWMO) has informed <br />the City that the water body known as Gem Lake does not have an outlet. <br />Therefore, inlets to the lake must be filtered and flow control added. <br />• Wetland protection - VLAWMO and Ramsey Washington County Metro <br />Watershed District (RWMWD) recently adopted updated water management <br />plans that might require changes in the storm water section of the zoning <br />ordinance. <br />• The Gem Lake has two years from the date these plans where adopted to update <br />its City storm water management plan appropriately. <br />• Subdivision regulations - The City of Gem Lake has adopted a new set of <br />subdivision regulations. These regulations should be reviewed to allow for <br />smaller lots (and zero lot line construction) that might occur with PUDs that <br />include town homes or other similar structures. <br />14.3 Private Investment <br />The basis for a comprehensive plan diminishes rapidly absent private investment. <br />Therefore, implementation policies recognize the desirability of encouraging private land <br />ownership, protection of environmentally sensitive areas, enhancement of <br />business/commercial opportunities, construction and maintenance of a broad range of <br />life-cycle housing, and provision of resident and visitor oriented retail and service <br />facilities. Promoting the qualities of the area and providing cost effective public services <br />are at the core of the public strategy to encourage and support private investment. <br />Other public policies affecting private investments include tax increment financing, <br />special assessments, coordination of community and business promotion activities, <br />cooperative ventures and development sensitive regulatory frameworks. <br />14.4 Public Investments <br />In carrying out the objectives of the comprehensive plan, the components and staging of <br />public investment is important. Understanding the basis for, and phasing of, public <br />investments stimulates private investments in terms of location and timing. Public capital <br />improvements involve the acquisition of land and the construction of public facilities. <br />Public ownership has historically been the case, but varying ownership arrangements are <br />emerging. Many municipal capital improvement budgets also include major equipment <br />purchase such as fire trucks, road maintenance vehicles, office furniture, and so on. <br />Maintenance expenditures (such as resurfacing a road) overlap between maintenance <br />and capital expenditures. The majority of parkland and roadway rights-of-way have been <br />acquired through dedication. Subdivision regulations provide for that dedication. In the <br />case of future rights-of-way, they will need to be purchased by agreement or <br />condemnation. <br />14.5 Municipal Capital Improvement Program 2008-2018 <br />14.5.1 Background <br />The capital improvement program provides a working strategy for guiding public <br />investment within the comprehensive planning framework. Resources are finite and rarely <br />meet all needs. A well thought out capital improvement program results in a <br />comprehensive “shopping list” where all desired investments are cataloged and <br />prioritized. Absence of current available funding should not keep a project off the <br />shopping list (funding approaches are dynamic and changing) but will impact its priority.