The Northfield Council went overtime last night after a near month long hiatus. But it didn’t take them long to move along the Bluff View Addition. City Planner, Scott Tempel and staff recommended approval of the Preliminary Plat consisting of 32.2 acres. The subdivision will provide sixty-one single-family lots, ten twin-home lots, four four-plex lots, and two Neighborhood Commercial lots on the corner of Ford Street and Hwy 246 on the southeast side of Northfield. Landowners Vern and Joan Koester have been working with the City for some time on
developing their property. Originally trying to work with the HRA but the City’s timeline was much slower. The project will connect with the existing development at Ford Street and future connections at Southbridge Drive, Aspen Street and Brookside Drive. The design also includes a large community rain garden. The vote was 5 to 0 approving the preliminary plat. Councilors Zweifel and Nakasian were absent. Mayor Pownell commented that “anything that we can do to help it, to make it doable” she’s interested in hearing it. With affordable housing goals in their Strategic Plan, this project gained favor. A final plat will come in Fall. If all goes well, there may be some work done before the end of this year. Pownell and Administrator Ben Martig were in studio this morning. Their interview is online at kymn.net. 3 – Preliminary Plat
Believet trains and pairs service dogs with disabled military veterans
A benefit was held at the Northfield Arts Guild last night for Believet. Started by Sam Daly in 2014, their mission is to train service dogs free of charge to disabled military veterans. Most of the veterans suffer from Post Traumatic Stress, traumatic brain injury and other physical restrictions. Daly said they train mobility dogs, psychiatric dogs, those for deaf and hard of hearing and even facility dogs that will work in institutional environments. But the most need is for those with Post Traumatic Stress and Traumatic Brain Injury. He added that it can be “very confusing” because PTS is an invisible injury but oftentimes more disruptive to individuals and families. Previously Daly trained explosive detection dogs for the Marine Corps for 3 years and was deployed twice to Afghanistan. It was then that he saw the need. A service dog isn’t going to cure Post Traumatic Stress but is a “non-chemical” way to deal with symptoms. The process to train the dogs is about 18 months, they also require 120 hours of training with the Veteran. At the level of funding they currently have, they can train 10 dogs at a time and place 6 per year. If you’d like more information or would like to donate, go to believet.org.
DWI enhanced enforcement
Northfield Police Sgt. Kevin Tussing is reminding residents that the department is participating in enhanced DWI enforcement through September 2nd. Throughout the State, Minnesota saw an increase of nearly 800 DWI arrests between 2016 to 2017, that number being 24,862. Plan a sober ride as you enjoy the waning days of Summer. I have much more information on kymn.net. dwi-release-partner Aug. 2017 (1)
Capt. Knox awarded Commander’s Commendation
Northfield resident and Civil Air Patrol (CAP) Captain Randall S. Knox was awarded the Commander’s Commendation Award by Minnesota Wing Commander James A. Garlough on August 6th. Captain Knox received the award for his role as the project officer in charge of a CAP hosted tour of the Minnesota Wing Headquarters and South St. Paul Airport, Fleming Field for a group of approximately 75 Minneapolis Middle school students. Knox said he was pleased to see the level of engagement the students showed and believes that it will increase their interest in STEM topics and perhaps spark some excitement in the possibility of an aviation or aerospace career. The complete press release is online. Knox_CommendationAward_Press Release (1)
