Last week, the Northfield City Council authorized the city staff to put a bid out for a new trail that would connect Honeylocust Drive with the East Cannon Trail.
According to the city’s website, the city is always looking for opportunities to create new connections to the bicycle path and pedestrian trail system that is maintained within the city limits, and this area has been identified as a connection that would be useful to the system.
The trail would run east and west from the intersection of Honeylocust and Highway 3, past the new Minnesota Department of Transportation facility and into the East Cannon Trail.
Northfield Mayor Rhonda Pownell said the connection would be a safe and convenient way for pedestrians and bicyclists to get off the trail and access the many businesses, especially the restaurants, that are in the area.
“This particular trail section or connection to the East Cannon River Trail would lead up to a stop light where you can connect and get across. It really connects in with a lot of the resources that are on the East side of Highway 3 and as we all know, if you want to cross that highway, you have to do it at a stop light.”
The city has been trying to build this trail for at least three years, however, there has been quite a bit of red tape in acquiring the land and then getting the proper approvals from state authorities. City Administrator Ben Martig said it has required some patience on the part of the city staff.
“We’ve been waiting a long time for this easement authorization from the State of Minnesota with that MnDot facility that the mayor talked about. But sometimes working with the state takes a while. So, we’ve been working on this for two years. It’s got a lot of legs to it.”
The authorization was not approved unanimously. City Councilor Brad Ness said there is what he sees as a perfectly good connection to the East Cannon trail already in that area, just to the North of the Northfield police station. He added, when the plan was first proposed it was a $300,000 project, and it is now closer to $500,000. He considers the project to be a waste of money.
Mayor Pownell countered that the connection Ness referred to is not paved and is a poor throughway for bicyclists.
With the authorization, the project is expected to go out for bid in the next two-three months.
Street family offers matching donation for Northfield Shares and Evening of Entertainment, Virtual
The past September, Northfield Shares hosted a sold-out event at the Estenson Farm Event Center called Northfield Shares an Evening of Entertainment, LIVE! The show that evening was filmed and has now been made available on the Northfield Shares website as Northfield Shares an Evening of Entertainment Virtual.
The video features each performance of the night. The eclectic and highly talented lineup included performances from the Northfield Youth Choir, students from the Northfield Dance Academy, the St. Olaf Taiko Drums, opera singer Ashlyn May, Chad Johnson and Jeenti Dutta and many more.
Northfield Shares is a community foundation that manages sixteen separate permanent endowments from which they distribute grants to local non-profit organizations and specific causes singled out by the different funds.
Kari Johnson of Northfield Shares who coordinated the evening and directed the online film said the Evening of Entertainment was too good to not share with the community. She and the organization are also hoping it will help to raise more funds from those who watch.
To that end, Aaron Street, whose grandparents established the Street Family Fund for local non-profits, along with his wife Kelly have issued a matching donation for the funds that are brought in from viewers of the virtual event.
“Aaron and Kelly Street have issued a match challenge for $10,000 for all donations that come in from the virtual event, dollar for dollar, into the Street Family Fund. And so, this is a great two-for-one situation. Northfield Shares will receive donations to go towards our operating costs to keep us running and the Streets will contribute to the Street Fund, which grants in perpetuity.”
Another unique feature of the evening was the painting created by Josh Engen during the event. Engen’s painting, which was inspired by the early fall landscape surrounding the Estenson farm was auctioned at the end of the evening, but Johnson said there are prints of the painting that are now available in three sizes, 10”x20”, 20”x40”, or 30”x60”. A portion of the print sales will go toward the Northfield Shares operating costs.
For more information, and to view the film of the evening, visit northfieldshares.org.
School Board will hear audit results tonight
The Northfield School Board will meet tonight in the boardroom of the Northfield School District office building.
With a relatively light agenda this evening, the major item of business for the school board will be a presentation of the results of the audit for the 2022-2023 school year, which was performed by the accounting firm of CliftonLarsonAllen. The audit is expected to show another “clean” year with no anomalies or unexpected findings.
The School Board will always invite public comments from those who live in the Northfield School District. Time for those comments is scheduled at the beginning of each meeting. Registration is required to address the School Board. Those wishing to do so may sign up beginning at 5:30 pm.
Tonight’s meeting will begin at 6:00
Rich Larson is the KYMN News Director. Contact him at rich@kymnradio.net
