By Rich Larson, News Director
After weeks of debate, the Northfield City Council voted last night to issue a conditional use permit to St. Olaf College for 
construction of the Ole Avenue Housing project, without approval of the controversial 28 new parking stalls the school had hoped to include.
The school is building a residence hall and townhouse style housing for juniors and seniors who have internships and practicums as part of their studies and therefore need to be closer to town, and many of whom require a car for transportation. The Northfield Planning Commission, concerned about the increased traffic in the surrounding neighborhood, recommended to the council that they not approve new parking for the project. The council was presented with two resolutions, one including parking, and one without. The resolution without was moved for a vote.
Councilor Brad Ness said he would not support that resolution.
“I just think it’s wrong to put the burden on the students, who need those parking places close to where they live. Right now, they need cars. We don’t have a transit system for them. They need cars. I can’t support cutting the 28 spots out.”
While Councilor Jessica Peterson-White did support the resolution, she said that the city is not doing enough to meet its own vision.
“I think that we as a city have some responsibility – maybe a lot of responsibility – if we really want to build a Northfield where we don’t need this much parking, then we need to make sure that we have the transit to make that possible, and we haven’t done that yet. So, I hope that we’ll continue to push hard on that front, and we’ll get creative and make sure that the city is as useful a partner as possible to our local colleges and other employers.”
The CUP without the additional parking passed by a 4-3 vote.
District re-names buildings
The Northfield school district has renamed one of its buildings and is soon to rename a second.
What was formerly known as Longfellow School is now the District Office and Area Learning Center, while Sibley Elementary School will soon be Maple Hill, Maple Hills, or Spring Creek Elementary School.
The new names come in the wake of a policy change made last fall that prohibits district buildings to be named after a person. There has been a shift in public opinion about many historical figures whose reputations have suffered in recent years as misdeeds toward native and African Americans have been revealed. Northfield School Superintendent Dr. Matt Hillmann said the policy will make things easier in the years to come.
“We know it’s a great honor for people to have a school named after them, but we also know that it doesn’t always age well. So that’s the purpose of the policy is to get us out of that kind of circumstance. Despite the short-term honor, there’s often a longer-term consequence.”
Dr. Hillmann said that historical markers will be placed at each school to, as he put it, “tell the story” of each building, in order to both honor the history of the buildings and explain why the names were changed.
The school board passed the name of the District Office and Area Learning Center at its meeting last week. They will consider the three new names for Sibley Elementary at their next meeting on Monday.
Jeff Johnson’s full conversation with Dr. Matt Hillmann can be heard here
Andrea Sjogren to lead the Northfield Arts Guild
And the Northfield Arts Guild has announced that they have selected their next Executive Director.
A letter published to the Guild website on Sunday said that Andrea Sjogren has accepted the position and will begin on March 1st. Sjogren served most recently as the Hopkins School District program manager for community education, and has held positions with many non-profit boards, including several years on the Executive Board of the Twin Cities Ballet.
In the statement, Guild Board President Rolf Kragseth said that Sjogren was chosen because of her experience with arts-learning, non-profits and public education, saying that her “strong focus on community engagement and relationship building” fit the exact needs of the Guild right now, especially as they look to return to in-person programming over the next year.
For her part Sjogren said in the statement that she was grateful to the board for their trust. “I am thrilled to have the chance to lead such an established organization and cultural anchor in the Northfield community,” she said, “and I look forward to joining staff and community members in creating exceptional arts experiences for all.”
Former Executive Director Tim Peterson left at the end of 2020 to accept the position of Executive Director and Chief Curator at the Center for Maine Contemporary Art. Rachel Haider has served as interim Executive Director since January 1.
