By Logan Wells, News Director | Logan@kymnradio.net
On Thursday, the Northfield Planning Commission met to discuss the topic of the Northwest Industrial Area. The city has been debating how to rezone the area for the last several months. Rezoning clears the legal hurdles for developing the area into an industrial park. As part of the rezoning, the city can stipulate what types of businesses move into the area and place specific requirements on them, like following the city’s climate action plan.
There were several comments from members of the public at the meeting, one of whom was Jane Bartho, President of the Northfield Chamber of Commerce, who expressed support for the rezoning overall:
“On behalf of the Chamber members, I wanted to talk about the issue and how vital this rezoning can be and will be with regards to expanding our tax base. As you know, and as Chris said, taxpayers are feeling the strain right now. More than ever, rising taxes, ongoing challenge of maintaining the quality of life that makes Northfield special without new resources of revenue, this burden will only grow heavier. Diversifying our tax base is not just a financial imperative, it’s a chance to protect what we have and what we value most in the community.” – Northfield Chamber of Commerce President Jane Bartho at the 11/21/2024 Planning Commission Meeting
Many public comments focused on a Data Center’s effect on the area and the surrounding homes and businesses. The owner and customers of Vixen Hollow Stables raised several concerns about the impact a data center would have on the organization.
The planning commissioners debated several items and ultimately removed the data centers from the rezoning. Commissioner Julia Menard expressed both environmental concerns with a data center and with what it would actually bring to Northfield:
“So an average data center is about 100,000 square feet and we can expect to get maybe 30 jobs out of that, but most of those jobs will be remote. So what a Northfielder can expect with the data center coming in is a job working for the landscape company that mows the grass around the data center.” – Planning Commissioner Julia Menard at the 11/21/2024 Planning Commission Meeting
The commission voted to rezone the area for an industrial park but not allow a data center. The commission’s vote is ultimately just a recommendation, and the City Council will take up the ordinance at tonight’s meeting.
