One sheet or 2? OR…
Will Northfield build a sheet of ice or two? That’s been a question for decades and it’s still in the early stages according to City Administrator Ben Martig. He was instrumental in the building of an award winning arena in Marshall, where he was the Admin previously. He said it’s very expensive so it takes a lot of time and study. Toward that, the City commissioned a facility study. Martig said there had never been one done. They looked at the mechanical systems, the locker rooms, the access safety issues and more. The draft went to the Task Force. That will come before Council in early January. Generally the mechanical systems are fine but, from an Event standpoint, the current facility is subpar.
Martig said, “we have crowded accesses, the locker rooms are really sub-standard in size. Corridors are very narrow, the bleacher area wouldn’t meet new code”. In the meantime, St. Olaf is in the midst of a capital campaign to build one-sheet arena on their campus. They are one of the City’s heaviest users of the current arena. Martig said it’ll be difficult to fill the non-peak hours that St. Olaf used. He added, “what do we do with our facility? Do we invest in it? Do we have some discussions with St. Olaf, is there an opportunity to partner for a two-sheet rink there?”. There’s an economy of scale with shared staffing and maintenance equipment, however, the City doesn’t know if that’s an alternative. The Task Force met yesterday morning and approved a “needs analysis” which will answer, “what is the actual demand in this community or the immediate neighboring communities? Does the community warrant one-sheet, two-sheets or three-sheets at the most? What’s realistic?”. The consulting firm, Ballard and King, will conduct the analysis. City Engineer Dave Bennett said the cost for the first phase is $4500 plus expenses. He hopes to be able to present their findings in late February. This will determine if there’s a 2nd phase which would be an operational analysis.
Community members question intersection study
The City of Northfield has been doing an engineering study on the intersection of Hwy 246 and Jefferson Road involving several stakeholders including the School District and MnDot. Last night the consultant presented those findings to the community in which less than 20 people attended. The goals of the study, he said, were to eliminate the peak hour traffic congestion, improving pedestrian and bike access, access to and from the schools and safety overall. With the current 4-way stop, the peak level traffic wait is 28 seconds, giving the intersection a Grade D, according to MNdot’s criteria. Gathering information from cameras, community members and stakeholders, his recommendation is for a single lane roundabout at a cost of $1.6 mil. An option for the Mills Town Trail would be a tunnel under 246 for just under $700,000. After concentrating on traffic flow and showing how a semi and/or a combine could maneuver the State owned roadway, the audience’s greatest concern was bicyclists and pedestrians. Resident John Thomas brought up the Safe Routes to School initiative and said, “traffic, yes, is a problem, but the primary focus of this intersection upgrade was pedestrian and bicycle safety. And if this presentation went to the Council in February doesn’t have a component to solve that we’re not moving anything forward other than getting traffic through that intersection quickly. And it really has failed that initiative if we don’t have that component in there”. That seemed to sum up the feeling of the rest of the attendees. This will come before Council February 14th. (I apologize for the size of these photos, updates on wordpress have apparently taken away my ability to attach the normal size! )
NHS awarded small grant
The Northfield Historical Society is among 36 recipients of the Minnesota Historical Society’s Historical and Cultural Heritage Small Grants. They’ll receive just under $10,000 for Textile Storage and Catalog Record Improvement, to provide better storage conditions, allowing for greater public access to objects in the collection. Grants are made possible by the Legacy Amendment’s Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund
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