By Teri Knight, News Director
The Northfield School District has been discussing a late start for middle and high school students for over a year. This week, the School Board discussed the benefits, of which Superintendent Dr. Matt Hillmann has shared multiple times on KYMN and at numerous meetings with the public, various stakeholders and sports organizations. The medical research is there to support a later start but there has to be a balance of the impact that kind of change would have on people day to day. Hillmann commented on KYMN yesterday, “while the Board really is
committed to the long term continuation of this discussion, they directed me last night, to not consider this for the Fall of 2020, so we will not be considering a change to our school schedules for Fall 2020″. He will continue to research a late start and ways they can address the issues the Community brought forward, such as, “the lack of facility space really impacting youth activities in the evening, concerns about students and after-school jobs, concerns about those students who have childcare responsibilities for younger siblings”. And the way it could impact commuting parents and bus transportation. Hillmann said they will use the convening power of the school district to further educate the public on sleep and it’s importance. His full interview is on kymn.net.
Balancing bicycles, walkers and cars, Nfld Council considers 2020 street projects
The Northfield Council held a work session regarding the 2020 mill & overlay project and the ½ cent sales tax option. A drainage analysis was completed and discussed with ways to combat the issues that create potholes and standing water. Administrator Martig commented this morning there will be replacement of some curbs. He added that the engineers also noted that some areas will need a higher crown to help the water shed off on each side, and, “they’ll also be replacing the pedestrian ramps where we’ve had some pooling of water which was a concern by some of the neighbors”. They will also add more catch basins. Bike lanes, cycle tracks and bump outs, oh my, were the big items. Council discussed raised buffers between travel lanes and cycle tracks. That would add about $35,000 per block. One of the areas in question is near Carleton College with a variety of users. Martig said, “so you’re kind of balancing connectivity. We’ve got plans for how do you have bicycles, walkers getting around safely. We also know there’s high parking demands, so that’s where a lot of our time, why it takes so much time for us to get through this on this particular project”. Residents along 4th St. made it clear in meetings that they did not want to lose parking which would force visitors to park on adjacent streets to accommodate bicyclists. Eventually they want this street to connect to the Mill Towns Trail. This area is being considered for a cycle track, which is 2 way bicycle traffic on one side of the road. There would be a buffer as well, “the challenge and feedback we got on that one was though, it would eliminate parking. There’s one lane of parking currently on 4th St. so it wouldn’t accommodate both. Long story short, we looked at, engineers took a hard look at it, made some modifications and talking to the Council, ultimately came up with a design that could accommodate and extra parking lane and those designs to have a cycle track”. It will be tighter. Martig’s full interview is HERE. There is a lot more to the mill and overlay project. This could be a portend of future street projects. Click HERE to get directly to the information on the City’s website. Additionally: 01-14-2020 Supplemental Agenda Background Memo no 1 01-14-2020 Supplemental Agenda Background Memo no 2
Real ID starts Oct. 1
By October 1st, Minnesotans will need to have a REAL ID to use commercial air travel within the United States and get into some federal buildings where an ID is required. You can also use your passport. The Northfield DMV is not listed as offering the service, however, Finance Director, Brenda Angelstad, confirmed that they are now offering the service. Faribault, Cannon Falls, Lakeville and Apple Valley also offer the service. Click on the above link for more information and find the documentation you will need to provide when applying for a Real ID on the PDF: dvs-real-id-documents-infographic
