The City of Northfield has announced three open houses that will be open to the general public to hear about, discuss
and share ideas regarding the Riverfront and Downtown redevelopment plans.
Over the last few months, City Consultants Bob Close and Bruce Jacobson have met with city leaders and civic groups like Rotary and the Defeat of Jesse Jays committee to discuss the future of Northfield’s most high-profile areas. Last month, the two, along with developer Michael Lander, held meetings and made presentations to business leaders and property owners. The three newly announced open houses are for anyone who is curious about the plans.
During each open house, Close and Jacobson will go over the latest private and public development projects, including Bridge Square, the Archer Block and the 5th and Water Street projects, after which there will be time for public questions and comments.
The first will be Wednesday, March 15, from 5:30 to 7:30 at the Northfield Public Library. The second will be Thursday, March 23, from 6 to 8pm at Greenvale Elementary School. The third will be on Thursday, March 30, from 5:30 to 7:30 pm at Fifty North.
For more information, contact Community Development Director Jake Reilly at jake.reilly@ci.northfield.mn.us.
Deadline to remove fish houses is tonight
Today is March 6th, which is the day the Department of Natural Resources mandates that all ice fishing shelters must
be removed from area lakes. Specifically, ice fishers have until 11:59pm to remove their dark houses, fish houses and portables. If a shelter is not removed, the owner may be cited. A conservation officer also may confiscate, remove or destroy any ice structure and its contents if not removed by the deadline.
The DNR splits the deadline between Northern and Southern inland waters. The borderline is Highway 200, which is well north of Rice County.
Rice County Chief Deputy Sheriff Joe Yetzer said on Thursday there were still a lot of structures on the ice. And while most area lakes still have ice that is thick enough to be considered safe, it won’t be long, he said, before those conditions start to change, and people will have to start thinking more about their surroundings
“It’s getting close. You know, with that rain that we’ve had recently and some of the warm temperatures and with some of the wind, that all factors in. In one area of the lake, you might be sitting on 20 inches of ice. But a few hundred yards away. It could be 10 inches of ice. Ice is pretty sporadic. You have to use. good caution.”
Overall, Rice County has seen a remarkably quiet winter season. Sheriff Jesse Thomas said, in fact, that in the months of December, January and February, there were no fatal crashes anywhere in the county. That number is both good news, and unexpected, as driving infractions have been sharply on the rise over the last few years.
According to the sheriff there were 800 more traffic stops in Rice County in 2022 than there were in 2021, and the 2021 number was much higher than in 2020. Thomas said despite the decision of many to stay home more during the pandemic, the higher numbers are most likely tied to Covid-19.
“You would think with people staying home and not coming to work, there’d be less traffic. Some people have said that there was less congestion, so you saw higher speed. And then, when people crashed, the injuries were more serious. I couldn’t tell you exactly why it happened, but yeah, we had some higher numbers there.”
He said the goal of his department and the state of Minnesota is to have zero fatalities on the road over the course of the year. While he believes it is a good goal to have, and is hopeful that it is attainable, a lot of work must be done to get there. Thomas said he preaches proactive enforcement to his patrol deputies, not because he wants more citations issued, but because of public safety.
Pursell bills would support healthy soil practices, farm-to-school initiative
Representative Kristi Pursell, who is the vice-chair of the Minnesota House of Representatives Ag Committee, 
presented three bills t her committee last week that she said will benefit both farmers and residents of both District 58A and much of Greater Minnesota.
One of the bills she introduced would establish a Farm-to-School program to help Minnesota school districts buy Minnesota-grown food, thereby increasing access to fresher, healthier produce and to support local farmers and processors.
Pursell said her bill received some help from a Northfield farmer who testified before the committee in favor of the bill.
“One of our local farmers from Open Hands Farm, Ben Doherty, he [and his partner] Erin grow a lot of carrots for Minneapolis public schools and other farm-to-school programs. He made the trek up to the capital to talk about the program and how it helps their farm grow in size and also, provide local healthy food for our kids.”
Another bill would help to encourage healthy soil farming practices by offering grants to help farmers grow cover crops and use strip and no-till farming practices. She said these practices are becoming more and more important.
“There is broad bipartisan support there to pay farmers to do the right thing for the soil, because that benefits all of us. It helps our water be cleaner in our wells and in our rivers, lakes and streams by building up that soil organic matter and sequestering carbon.”
The bill would also require the Department of Agriculture to work with other departments including the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency to develop a Healthy Soil Management plan and present the working plan by the end of 2024.
Still another bill would help to level the market for carbon contracts that farmers have with larger companies. Carbon contracts are legal agreements under which farmers adopt new practices to sequester additional carbon into the soil. While Pursell actively supports these new practices, she said, quite often the contracts include a “gag order” that prevents farmers from discussing the amount they are paid under these contracts among themselves. Her bill would say that Minnesota law supersedes these clauses and would act as a security measure for the farmers.
All three of the bills, she said, are very ag focused and will most likely not move to another committee. Because of that, she said most likely they will be considered for inclusion in an agriculture omnibus bill.
Jeff Johnson’s full conversation with Representative Kristi Pursell can be heard here
