By Rich Larson, News Director
The Northfield City Council heard a presentation on the comprehensive housing study on Tuesday night, and after all the statistics and forecasts
had been given describing the dire housing situation in Northfield right now, the question became ‘What comes next?’
Northfield Mayor Rhonda Pownell said that the city is taking this situation very seriously and is looking to do things on several different levels.
She said Housing Availability is one of the key priorities in the city’s new strategic plan. The plan will essentially require the city to increase the housing stock across all levels of housing including affordable homes and quality rentals. She also said the housing study itself will be a great tool for the council and city staff to use in identifying the kind of development that should be incentivized.
Those decisions are among the next steps for the city as well as deciding which areas can or should be developed. City Administrator Ben Martig said that the city prioritizes managed growth, so the top priority is to fill the lots where infrastructure is already in place. After that the east side of is where most of the growth is both possible and available, and Northfield has agreements in place with the various townships to both provide and annex property as development occurs. There is not as much space available on the west side of town, but Martig did say there is property just east of the hospital that has been zoned for housing development.
Martig also said that the city has a number of different ways to help developers get things moving, be it in tax increment financing or in helping to finance road construction in a development. And he said there are things the city can do to help consumers as well.
“There might be other incentives related to Rental assistance or even things like making sure your housing stock is in good condition. There are certain funds that we get from the Federal Government that may help us with some of the programming we do there with down payment assistance programs or refurbishing homes or those kinds of things.”
This was the first housing study the city had commissioned in more than 15 years. Mayor Pownell said that the city is now making housing a priority as never before and she expects more housing studies to be conducted, perhaps even on an annual basis, to help measure progress in this area.
Martig praised for performance during pandemic
Prior to the regular meeting, the Northfield City Council met in closed session to evaluate the job performance of City Administrator Ben Martig. The City Administrator is the only position that the council oversees, and as is the case with most employees in most companies, a review is something that is done on an annual basis.
Although the review was done in a closed session, the council is required to give the results of the evaluation in a public meeting. Mayor Pownell read a statement that was highly complementary of Martig’s performance.
“Northfield’s elected officials and staff are extremely satisfied with their city administrator’s performance in the last year. Mr. Martig earned high praise for helping to keep the community safe and the city operating at peak performance throughout the pandemic. They have expressed through this review process a desire for him to continue on with his good work as their city administrator for the upcoming year.”
After the statement the council approved a resolution giving Martig a small raise in his salary.
For his part, Martig was humble in accepting the review, pointing to the city staff and elected leadership as highly adept.
“It’s been a challenging year,” he said, “but the city staff just continue to amaze me in how innovative they are and how they’ve been able to respond in our community. We have a great mayor, and our council are great leaders.
“It’s an honor to be in Northfield. I love this community.”
Events on tap for Earth Day on Saturday
Today is the 51st annual Earth Day, a day set aside to reflect on the condition of the planet and the environment. 
Northfield will celebrate Earth Day on Saturday morning with a series of interactive events and workshops designed to help educate people on things they can do every day to promote conservation and better environmental practices.
Event coordinator Mary Jo Cristofaro said the topics of the workshops will range from curbside composting to Water Conservation to a Line 3 Educational Seminar to environmentally friendly practices for lawn care to bicycle maintenance. The morning will also include a special yoga class and a virtual story time on the Northfield Public Library’s Facebook page. KYMN will participate in the event as well with a special Earth Day broadcast at noon.
Beginning at 1:00 there will be a special Earth Day Farmers Market on Bridge Square. Cristofaro said it will be a great place for the environmentally conscious to make some connections with like-minded people and organizations.
“We have 17 or 18 market vendors who will be down there, as well as 15 exhibitors. These are organizations that are taking sustainability very seriously and are doing something about it. So, people will be able to plug into all kinds of information.”
All events will be held outdoors with Covid-19 protocols in place including mandatory wearing of masks and physical distancing.
Events will be held on Bridge Square, at the Hotspot and at the First UCC Church.
