A Northfield woman, the wife of a prominent former Northfield School District official, passed away yesterday from injuries she suffered after the car in which she was riding collided with a St. Paul fire truck.
According to the Minnesota State patrol and the St. Paul Pioneer press, 76-year-old Dianne Kyte was hospitalized when the fire truck and the Chevrolet Malibu driven by her husband, 77-year-old Charles Kyte, crashed Saturday night in downtown St. Paul. He was treated at the hospital and released.
Fire department personnel extricated the two from the Chevrolet and St. Paul fire medics transported them to Regions Hospital.
The fire engine was responding to a fire emergency, according to the fire department. The two vehicles collided in the intersection of East Seventh and Cedar streets, the State Patrol said. St. Paul officers were called to the crash just before 7 p.m.
A 39-year-old firefighter, Nathan Hurliman, was operating the fire engine and there were three firefighters on board; no injuries were reported among them, according to the State Patrol.
Charles Kyte is the former Northfield Public Schools superintendent and past executive director of the Minnesota Association of School Administrators.
A statement issued by St. Paul Fire Chief Butch Inks and his department said his primary concern is for the Kyte family and the civilians who were affected, and that they are committed to supporting them in any way possible.
Work on Northfield Comprehensive Plan 2045 continues
The people putting the new Northfield Comprehensive Plan together have reached the stage where nuanced prioritization is beginning to come into play.
Betsey Buckheit, the chair of both the Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee and the Northfield Planning Commission said as the values and ideas for Northfield’s next twenty years are installed into the plan, there will sometimes be competing interests that arise on certain projects. For example, she said, the city might have to make a decision about an affordable housing development with regards to climate and energy efficiency. Should the development be more climate friendly, but not quite as affordable, or should the affordability function supersede the climate priorities?
Buckheit said the plan is being put together, not to dictate those priorities, but to give the city a template on making those tough decisions.
The planners are also looking at some intersective ideas, that do not necessarily fall into competition with each other but should be considered in tandem with each other. An example of that situation, she said, is transportation and land use. With road construction, she said, the idea shouldn’t simply be determining the best way to build a street. It should also include examining the best use of a street and how it improves the lives of the people who use it.
“We’re going to put transportation and land use together and I think this is very important. We have been developing streets on their own, but really, they’re how we get places so it’s not just what’s a street like, and how is it constructed. It’s how does this street help you get from your house to where you shop, to school, how does it facilitate commerce. And so putting those things together again is really important.”
The plan itself is currently being written by a team of consultants who specialize in specific areas of comprehensive planning. She said each piece will come back to the Planning Commission and the Steering Committee for approval or changes that are deemed necessary. She said they are also taking specific sections to local groups, like the Chamber of Commerce, who have interest in those specific areas. With just about five months left in the year, she said the timeline is a little tight, but they expect to have the final plan before the city council by the end of 2024.
Jeff Johnson’s full conversation with Betsey Buckheit can be heard here
City Council to meet August 5th
And the Northfield City Council will meet tonight in the Council Chambers in City Hall. The Council is deviating from its normal schedule and holding the first meeting of the month tonight rather than tomorrow to make way for the annual Night to Unite which is set for tomorrow night.
Among the items on tonight’s agenda, the Council will hear the 2nd Quarter Police Report from Chief Mark Elliott, and a presentation of a resolution to proclaim August 18th as Arts Guild Day in Northfield.
The city’s nominee to succeed Chief Elliott will be revealed at the meeting, and the Council will vote to confirm that nominee. There will also be consideration of the first reading of amendments to the Land Use Code dealing with nuisance lighting, and the council will vote on the second reading of the temporary ordinance regarding development of the Northwest Area.
As always, the city and the council are asking to hear opinions and comments from the public. Anyone who wishes to do so is invited to talk with the council on any topic they see fit at the 6pm listening session prior to the meeting. Participants in the listening session are asked to please not comment on a topic on the agenda, and instead are asked to stay and make a public comment when that agenda item is discussed during the regular meeting. Those wishing to voice their opinions without addressing the council should email their councilors directly or post a comment through the eComment button on the “Agendas” section of the City Council website.
Tonight’s meeting will begin at 6:00.
KYMN Daily News 8/5/24
Rich Larson is the KYMN News Director. Contact him at rich@kymnradio.net
