By Teri Knight, News Director
Tonight’s Northfield Council work session includes discussion of a Carbon Reduction Fund. Addressing Climate Change was one of the Council’s six priorities. Their goal is to be 100% carbon free by 2040. In order to fund some of the strategies in the Climate Action Plan, especially those focused on carbon sequestration, staff are proposing this Carbon Reduction Fund through the City Finance Department. Residents, businesses, and any other interested parties, including the City, could make contributions into this fund. An example of what this fund might pay for includes replacing trees on public
land/boulevard areas that are dead or diseased. It’s approximately $500 per tree for a commercial contractor to install a new tree and there are an estimated 100 trees that need replacement each year. At this time the City budget is not able to support replacing all of them. Council will also continue their discussion on a possible franchise fee to offset street assessments and also have a presentation on the City’s budget. They set the preliminary levy at 5.7%. There is also a scenario with 3.7%. The presentation: 1 – 2021 Budget Retreat 10.13 (1). You can view council work sessions on the city’s website. They begin at 6pm. This supplemental memo includes a presentation on the Franchise Fee discussion: City Council Supplemental Agenda Background Memo for October 13 2020
Draft plan on Riverfront Enhancement
Northfield Community Development is hosting a virtual presentation of the DRAFT Riverfront Enhancement Action Plan on tomorrow evening at 6:30. All the information to join in through Zoom is on the City’s website. Here is the LINK. The City continues taking public comment on the draft through Thursday. On Thursday the Planning Commission will discuss it. They have a substantive role in how the plan is implemented as it’s their role to adhere to the City’s Comprehensive Plan. Their meetings begin at 6pm. Video is generally posted the following day.Riverfront Enhancement presentation
City seeks applicants for Boards and Commissions
It’s that time of year, the City of Northfield is seeking applicants to fill volunteer positions on city advisory boards and commissions. There are a number of opportunities from housing to climate action, economic development to human rights, parks and city planning. More than 145 community members participate in advisory, regulatory, governance and oversight activities. Enrollment is open through Friday, October 23, 2020. All the details are HERE.
Dundas approves extension for Dome owners
Dundas City council amended the development agreement with the Dundas Dome. The owners were to get required work done by the end of this month. Administrator Teppen explained that due to the pandemic, they had to close in March and are unsure of when they’ll be able to reopen, “they asked for an extension. The council discussed this briefly back in August because there were two items still not outstanding. One having to do with the retention pond on site and the other issue having to do with the completion of the parking lot. So we asked them to complete the pond work, which they did, and so now they’ve just asked for an extension of putting the final lift of the asphalt on the parking lot”. They were granted a 2 year extension.
6 get tagged in Nfld
During the recent Click it or Ticket wave, Northfield police Sgt. Kevin Tussing reports there were 6 unbelted drivers cited in Northfield. The full press release with added statistics is HERE.
