The tax increment financing agreement for the Kraewood development was passed during the City Council meeting on Tuesday night by a 5-1
vote. The one dissenting vote was cast by Councilor George Zuccolotto.
His concerns center around what the city and the state call affordable housing, and to whom the access to that housing is given. Zuccolotto had voiced concerns at the February 8th council work session as well, asking how the applicants for the affordable units would be evaluated.
“It’s more than income,” he said. “It’s credit score, record with the law, it’s things like a social security number.”
The TIF agreement stipulates that in return for nearly $2.5 million in funding assistance for the development’s 106-unit apartment building, 43 of those units must be offered as affordable housing for those whose income is at or below 60% of the Rice County average median income.
According to data provided by the Ehlers group, who serves as a financial advisor to the city, a one-person household would qualify at or below an income of $36,360, a two-person household at $41,520, a three-person household at $46,740 and a four-person household at $51,900. Affordable rents will be set in the building at $909 for a studio apartment, $973 for a one bedroom, and $1,168 for a two-bedroom apartment.
Zuccolotto stated candidly that he does not see those figures as affordable numbers. He himself is in a lower tax bracket, and it would be irresponsible for him to rent an apartment that cost as much as these will. And he said, the project does not serve an important demographic in his constituency.
“This is just indicative of the feelings I’ve gotten over the years, where [we’re told,] ‘This isn’t the project. The next project is the project. This is as affordable as we can make it based on the numbers that we have.’ But what is truly affordable? What is humane? And what is best for the city? I just can’t [vote to] pass this, because I don’t know who, from my community, is going to live there.”
Mayor Pownell said she understands Councilor Zuccolotto’s point of view. The city has made development of housing at all levels a major priority. She pointed to several other housing developments underway and said the solution could be in sheer quantity.
“So, we are looking at housing across the board, in multiple areas of the city, getting housing out there. Because, also, if you increase the supply, there is potential that you can see some of those rents go down. Not all housing options are right for everyone. And this is just one of those options out there.”
During the meeting, City Administrator Ben said the city was preparing for another review of its rental policies. In response to Councilor Zuccolotto’s concerns a motion was offered for the council to direct staff and the Northfield Housing and Redevelopment Authority to include limits on security, requirements for allowable identification, and requirements to allow documentation other than a valid social security number, as it considers rental ordinance amendments.
The council adopted the motion unanimously.
School board saw several reasons to end health protocols
Next week, the Northfield School District will roll back some of the public safety Covid-19 protocols that have been in place since the
beginning of the school year. Masks will no longer be required in most district buildings, and close contacts of those who test positive for Covid will not have to quarantine.
Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Matt Hillmann said the school board felt comfortable with this decision after reviewing four factors.
The first was the rapidly diminishing rate of positive cases in both Rice County and within the district. Two weeks ago, the number of active cases was at 300 within the district, which was a higher number than the district had seen in all of 2021. That number has now fallen to 51 active cases, which Hillmann said is comparable to the numbers seen at the beginning of the school year. The numbers continue to drop each day, he said, and in fact, there were only 9 new cases reported over the last weekend, which is the least amount of new active cases reported over a weekend that he can remember.
The second reason was the greater immunity numbers within the student body. Northfield High School, he said, is at an 88% immunity rate. This means that 88% of all high school students are either fully vaccinated or have had Covid within the last 90 days.
“That’s a pretty darn good protection rate,” he said, “in a public environment.
Another key reason is that vaccinations have been available for kids ages 5 and over since last November, and there has been ample time for a parent to get their child vaccinated if they so wish.
Finally, he said, they can roll back the health protocols because of the availability of high-quality N95, KN95 and N99 masks. This is a relatively new development that should work to slow the spread of the virus within the community even more.
Hillmann said the new protocols are not in effect right away, because people need to get used to the idea that not everyone around them or their student will not be wearing a mask.
“We’re giving it a full week, because we know people’s mindsets need to change. We really want to honor the fact that this is a pretty significant transition. Some people thought it should have been eliminated at midnight [on Monday] night, other people think we should have kept it through the end of the school year. At the end of the day, we looked at what’s the reasonable timeframe that we think people need to make a mindset adjustment, and we landed on about ten days after we announced the changes.”
The new rules for masking will go into effect on Monday. Contact tracing will cease at the end of the school day tomorrow.
Rich Larson is the KYMN News Director. Contact him at rich@kymnradio.net
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