On Tuesday night the Northfield City Council spent quite a bit of time during its work session discussing new
developments with the Northfield Ice Arena. Aurora Pharmaceutical, the rapidly growing veterinary medicine company based in Northfield has approached the city about acquiring the arena, and more importantly, the land upon which it sits.
City Administrator Ben Martig said Aurora is looking at a major expansion of its offices and manufacturing facility. Having already required the former Northfield News printing plant, which sits just to the South of the Aurora building, the plan is to expand by 50,000-75,000 square feet, which would require the acquisition of the ice arena land as well. The expansion, according to Martig, would create 40-50 jobs in the $75,000-$90,000 salary range, with another 10-20 jobs added each year after that, for as many as 150 new jobs. The expansion would also increase the city’s commercial industrial tax base, something that is a stated goal for the city moving forward.
The ice arena, meanwhile, has become an albatross to the city of Northfield. The building is in poor condition, with repairs needed for the roof, the stands and the locker rooms, and an outdated ice making system that will have to be replaced soon. Attempt have been made to replace the building over the years, but after a failed referendum in 2018 that would have built a multi-use facility with two sheets of ice, the question about what to do with the building has lingered without any easy answers.
Martig framed Aurora’s acquisition of the land as an opportunity to aid a business that is becoming more and more important to the local economy, while relieving the city from the burden of having to keep a decrepit building in decent shape.
“I think when you have a business expansion opportunity like this, and also taking into consideration the condition of the building. I think the council was very motivated to say, ‘This is an opportunity that we need to take seriously and find solutions.’ I think we’ve been looking at what to do with the arena for a couple of decades, so I think the timing is right to say ‘Okay. We, as a community, need to come together to find some solutions around what to do with our facility.’”
Indeed, there was no opposition among the members of the council to selling the property to Aurora in order to facilitate the company’s growth.
The question then becomes, if the ice arena is to be acquired and torn down, how does the city intend to replace it? We will discuss those options tomorrow.
For now, there is no word on what Aurora’s offer to the city would be, but the council held a closed meeting after the work session to discuss the offer and make a counteroffer.
Jeff Johnson’s full conversation with City Administrator Ben Martig can be heard here
Covid numbers climbing again in Northfield schools
As the second full school year touched by Covid-19 begins to wind down, the Northfield School District is once again reporting an uptick in
the number of new positive cases.
Superintendent of Public Schools Dr. Matt Hillmann said as of Tuesday morning, the district was 115 new positive cases over the past 14 days, where a few weeks ago the number was 20. However, he said, the virus that is affecting things right now, is very different than the one that caused 600 new cases in January.
“I think, finally, what we’re seeing now, this current form of the virus is presenting more like a traditional mild-to-moderate respiratory illness. Not in every case,” he said. “But this is a different virus.”
Hillmann said the district is watching the trends closely. The major metric that they are using is the influenza-like illness rate, which is not close to the 5% threshold that would require the school to take action in the form of mask mandates, distancing requirements, and going to distance learning.
As he discussed the end of the school year, Hillmann pointed out that the entire community has been through quite a bit, and everyone probably needs to go through a healing process.
While the situation is very different today than it was two years, or even a year ago, Hillmann believes many people still need to grieve for what has been lost.
“I hope that we can talk about how our community can do some healing coming out of this. I’m very proud of how Northfield has handled this whole circumstance on balance. I think we’ve done a very good job of caring for our friends and neighbors, being understanding, being gracious. But I do think that there needs to be some intentional thought about how do we reflect and how do we move forward.”
Hillmann said, in the meantime, the district is monitoring the situation, but he is not overly concerned. The numbers are quite manageable, even if we are all tired of the whole thing.
“It is what it is,” he said. “It’s where we are.”
Bethel Garage Sale returns after a two-year hiatus
And even as the Covid numbers are slowly starting to rise, this year has been marked by the return of many community events such as
Northfield High School’s Arts a la Carte and the Hospital Auxiliary Book Fair that were sidelined the last two years because of the pandemic. This weekend, Northfield will see the return of another favorite event, as Bethel Lutheran Church will host its 25th garage sale tomorrow and Saturday.
The event, described as “legendary” by social media posts and by those who have either worked or been patrons of the garage sale, is indeed a massive undertaking. Don Pavek of Bethel Church said there will be more than 25 tables set up in a room of more than 1000 square feet, filled with “treasures” that have been donated to benefit the church.
Like every garage sale, the items for sale will vary widely, but Pavek said there will truly be something for everybody
“There’s clothing for men, women, children and infants,” he said. “Household items, electrical appliances, collectibles and antiques, furniture, garage and lawn items, quilts & bedding, it just goes on.”
There will also be a bake sale each day.
Pavek said the bargains will be plentiful, but there is an even better reason to be there.
“It’s just a great social event. It’s so great to see all the townspeople come out. This is a fund raiser where the money goes back into the community. Everything we make. But at Bethel, we consider it more of a spiritual social moment.”
The Bethel Garage Sale is set for tomorrow beginning at 7am until 6pm, and on Saturday from 8am until noon. For more information, visit the Bethel Garage Sale Facebook page.
Jeff Johnson’s full conversation with Don Pavek Bethel Lutheran Church can be heard here
Rich Larson is the KYMN News Director. Contact him at rich@kymnradio.net
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