On Tuesday night during their monthly work session, the Northfield City Council received several updates regarding the downtown redevelopment project that seemed to have gone dormant after it was announced last November that the developer originally selected to work with the city was no longer a part of the project.
Earlier this week, the city announced its intention to sell the former Northfield News building at 115 5th Street West to Loon Liquors. Taking the opportunity to expand that discussion to other downtown projects, Northfield Community Development Director Jake Reilly and Nate Carlson, who heads up the Economic Development Authority, discussed a redesign of the 5th & Washington Street project, as well as options with the downtown post office building.
City Administrator Ben Martig said the redesign of the 5th & Washington Street building has been ramped up. The building would be the home of a new and greatly expanded Municipal Liquor Store, while offering a parking structure that would replace the parking spots lost by building on top of one of the city’s most used public lots. There could possibly be more retail space built into the building as well, he said, and the city will definitely be looking at housing in the structure at the Workforce price point.
“We did have an updated housing study and I think the last proposal that we looked at had the smaller efficiency type housing units. Really, the housing market update confirmed that that price point wasn’t out there on the market. So, we need to think about that.”
Meanwhile, the post office could work into the equation as well. The project’s original design contained a new post office space, with the intention of offering a building exchange with the United States Postal Service. Martig said, while the USPS tends to work very slowly on these matters, they have signaled a continued interest in an exchange. The current downtown post office, he said, has much more space than is needed, and they have acknowledged that.
“The building is only used at about 30% capacity. The interest from the post office would be that if they were to explore this opportunity of an exchange, they would want to have another downtown location that they could move into. So, it’s possible we could integrate that location with the 5th & Washington site or have a space that could accommodate them if that plays out.”
With plans literally having gone back to the drawing board, Martig did not lay out a timetable for the project to get underway, but it is clear that the city is committed to building something on the 5th & Washington Street site to house a new liquor store.
Jeff Johnson’s full conversation with Northfield City Administrator Ben Martig can be heard here
Hillmann says he will bring presentations to district living rooms
On Monday night, the Northfield School Board received an update on the Northfield School District’s efforts to educate voters about the referendum that will be on the ballot this November. The district is proposing a project that could cost up to $120 million to build a new multi-level classroom building at Northfield High School, demolish four of the school’s problematic wings, renovate other areas in the school, and possibly add an expanded gymnasium area and a geothermal system to heat and cool the building.
Northfield Superintendent of Schools Dr. Matt Hillmann is heading up a campaign that will offer as much information as district voters would like to have regarding the project, the reasons behind it, the costs, the individual tax impact, and anything else they might question.
Last week the district unveiled a page on the Northfield Public Schools website that offers all of the pertinent information deemed important by district leadership, but Hillmann said that is only the beginning of the process.
Beginning on Saturday, they will resume offering tours of the high school facility. Hillmann said it is important that people see and feel the problems with the building firsthand to truly understand why the renovations are necessary.
Hillmann himself is also making presentations to every civic group he can find within the district. Last week, aside from running a booth at the Community Market Fair, he said he made a presentation to the Prairie Creek School Board and has another scheduled with Northfield Rotary. He said he has reached out to the townships within the district as well, hoping to make a presentation at each of the town halls. Dr. Hillmann also said he would be willing to take his show on the road.
“If you have a coffee group, if you have six people that show up at your house or if you meet at FiftyNorth or whatever, and you’d like a presentation to discuss the referendum, contact our office. I’ll be happy to show up or send one of our district folks to come and talk with you about any of the questions that you have. We just want people to be informed.”
They will also be offering virtual presentations as well.
The tour of Northfield High School is set for this Saturday at 4pm and should run for about two hours. Hillmann said attendees should come to Door #10 at the high school. The tour will begin in the media center with a presentation, followed by the guided tour, and a time for questions. For more information visit northfieldschools.org/reimagine.
Extra opportunities to plan for tornados
And last week, KYMN News erroneously reported that it was Severe Weather Awareness Week, when, in fact, that is happening this week. We apologize for the confusion, and remind everyone that today is Tornado Awareness Day, which will include two tornado drills.
Northfield Deputy Chief of Police PT Haider said the tornado sirens will sound both this afternoon and this evening in order for schools, businesses and families to be able to prepare for a tornado.
“Thursday is tornado day, which is the big one. They have two tornado drills scheduled that day for 1:45 and 6:45. The main reason for two, is they want to have one in the middle of the day for work settings and one in the evening for home settings.”
Haider said the main reason for Severe Weather Awareness Week is to make sure people know how to keep safe, and to know what to do in any event. He said it doesn’t take very long to make a plan.
“The biggest thing with severe weather is to be just aware. Have a plan with your family, have a plan at work, have a plan at school. All schools should have a plan for severe weather, tornadoes, severe weather warnings with high winds. It’s important that people are prepared with a plan to make sure everyone around them is safe.”
For more information on Northfield Emergency Services and Severe Weather Awareness Week visit the Emergency Preparedness page in the Police section of the Northfield city website.
KYMN News 4/11/24
Rich Larson is the KYMN News Director. Contact him at rich@kymnradio.net
