By Teri Knight, News Director
The Northfield City Council was set to vote on a requested waiver of the Park Dedication fee on the 5th St. Lofts tonight. However, after Councilor DeLong questioned the calculation of the park dedication fee at their February meeting, Staff reviewed their calculation requirements with City Attorney Hood and concluded the park fee should be based on the estimated market value of the land without building or other improvements. Staff incorrectly calculated the park fee with the assessed building values making it $58,000. Rebound/Stencil, the Developer, had asked for a waiver to reduce the fee to half of that at the February meeting. However, with recalculating,
the fee comes to $25,730. Subsequently, Rebound/Stencil has withdrawn their request and agree to pay the recalculated fee. Mayor Pro Tem Grabau (who is chairing the meeting in absence of Mayor Pownell) and City Administrator Martig have recommended removing this item from tonight’s agenda. They will vote on awarding the contractor bid for the 2020 mill and overlay project on the East side of town. Meetings begin at 6pm and are streamed live on the city’s website.
Nfld Planner and Developer look to streamline LDC
The City’s new City Planner Mikayla Schmidt has been in the job for a couple of months but has been with the City for just over 6 years in various positions working her way up. When she graduated in 2009 with a degree in Land Management, there weren’t any jobs as the recession had cities cutting back. Her road took her from Equine Vet Tech to managing a horse ranch to Deputy Clerk of Hampton, to Northfield. As City Planner, she facilitates new development explaining, “it starts out a lot of times with people coming in saying I have this idea, is this feasible at this location? What would we have to do if this comes to fruition?” . Schmidt reviews plans against the Land Development Code. Community Development Director, Mitzi Baker, came on board about 18 months ago and the pair share a vision of, “we really would like to see some things be simplified or streamlined. People who’ve worked with Northfield and the code, know that it’s cumbersome and can be hard to navigate, so we’re here to try to really make that better for everybody”. The Planning Commission will be vetting some ideas around smoothing out the process. At the moment, Premier Bank has a temporary location near The Crossing’s off Hwy 3 as they get ready to start construction on their new facility nearby. Their former location off 5th St. will be removed to make room for the 5th St. Lofts apartment complex. Her full interview is on kymn.net.
Dunn discusses legislation and law enforcement
Rice County Sheriff Troy Dunn is the President of the Minnesota Sheriff’s Association which means he’s watching legislation. Commenting on KYMN last week, he said, they’re big concern is mental health. They need dollars for mental health programs and facilities as they deal with mental health issues on a daily basis. There will be legislation coming up involving firearms and the legalization of marijuana. He added that local legislators have been very receptive to law enforcement’s opinions. His full interview is HERE.
NH&C issues information on COVID-19 protocol and more
Northfield Hospital and Clinics has issued more information on COVID-19, the symptoms and when you should CALL the clinic. If you’re sick, call first and a triage nurse will determine if you should be tested. If so, there is a protocol for that. Please see this information and much more HERE. The Red Cross is also concerned over a possible blood shortage, they have scheduled blood drives at various locations in Cannon Falls, Faribault and Northfield. That information is HERE. Please be sure to listen to Northfield Superintendent Dr. Matt Hillmann as he discusses the District’s plan HERE.
