Rice County Sheriff Troy Dunn reports the 2nd ATV crash in a week. Early yesterday afternoon, Deputies were called to the Tri-County ATV Park in Bridgewater Township on an injury crash. The driver 55 year old Daniel Luetje of Apple Valley and his passenger 22 year old Elizabeth Luetje were traveling uphill when if flipped over, ejecting them. Both were transported out of the woods with a Rescue UTV. Daniel was airlifted to Regions Hospital in St. Paul. Elizabeth was transported to Northfield Hospital and later to Regions Hospital via ground ambulance.
Both occupants were wearing helmets at the time of the crash. Northfield Fire/Rescue, Faribault Fire/Rescue, Northfield Ambulance and North Ambulance assisted. The MN DNR will complete the crash report.
Questions continue concerning a new Muni
A new municipal liquor store has been an ongoing discussion. Council had narrowed it down to 2 sites. The EconoFoods lot and the Q-block. Administrator Martig that the real focus of the discussion at this week’s meeting was about the preliminary design concepts, see what site issues there may be and costs. The cost range from TSP Architects conceptual designs range from $2.5 mil to $4.6 mil. That doesn’t include land acquisition or environmental impact studies. On the Q-block site, they’re considering a 3 phase option with possible partnerships for additional retail/office/housing space. In the EconoFoods site it could be a two-story, again, with possible office/housing space. Liquor Store manager Stephen Delong told Council that Dakota Worldwide, who did a market study in 2015 and found a new liquor store a viable option, has updated the numbers to take into account the new MGM and Aldi’s in Dundas. However, that is not included in the council packet. Councilor David DeLong said, “some of the scenarios say that we have to increase sales by almost $1 million”. He asked, “if we went into a bank with this information, would they give us $3 million?”. Adding, “and I know some people want it to be an anchor for development but that’s a pretty costly price tag”. Peterson White asked about the square footage of the building. Stephen Delong answered, “I don’t think as far as square footage is concerned I don’t think that would change things. If anything you might argue that we would want a strong position to remain competitive”. He said the muni’s niche has always been fine wine and spirits. A new building would allow for, “a broader selection and make the store more of a destination for those items and I think there we’d be extremely competitive and I don’t think that would… and conceivably, in my mind, we would hope to dominate the marketplace”. It’s clear that the City wants to stay in the liquor store business, where it will go and what the actual costs are as well as projected revenue are yet to be determined. Staff will be negotiating with the owners of the properties and continue studying the sites and data. There’s no specific timeline set forth. The first 30 pages of the PDF refer to the Liquor Store 2017_10_3 City Council Supplemental Agenda Background Memo for October 3 2017 No. 1 (updated)
Cemetery stories contingency plan for Saturday
Cemetery Stories will carry on rain or shine. Northfield Historical Society Interim Ex. Dir. Cathy Osterman told KYMN that she has a contingency plans should the rain continue after 4pm or if the ground is too muddy to walk safely. The entire evening will be a non-walking tour with all the actors in a central location taking turns speaking with each tour group. NHS has 3 pop up tents they’ll use to keep everyone dry. Cemetery Stories is being held Saturday, Oct. 7th, at Oaklawn Cemetery beginning at 4pm. To book your tour go to northfieldhistory.org and click on Programs and Events
