By Logan Wells, News Director | Logan@kymnradio.net
The Northfield City Council approved the Comprehensive Plan last week. The plan outlines the city’s vision for the next 20 years. Northfield’s first Comprehensive Plan began in the 1960s, and it is now a required plan of the city, serving to inform the more specific plans developed by the city. Planning Commission Chair Bill Kuhlmann compared the differences between the 20-year Comp Plan and the 3-year Strategic Plan:
“The Comp Plan says we need more housing in Northfield, both from an equity standpoint to improve the economy. The strategic plan then says, OK, our plan is to build 50 new units this year.” – Bill Kuhlmann, Northfield Planning Commission Chair, KYMN News File
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Community Development Director Jake Riley, who led the process of making the Comp Plan, said that now the work begins of implementing the plan, citing housing as an example for his department:
“That and that gives my team a bunch of different things to start working on checking off boxes, right? So recruiting home builders, recruiting and working with our existing multifamily home builders, how do we support those folks to get more things built in Northfield.” – Jake Riley, Northfield Community Development Director, KYMN News File
Riley also encouraged the public to see some of the plan, either the PDF version or the more interactive website version, which Kuhlmann stated can make the plan far easier to understand:
“I think the maps will really be helpful for people to more easily see how the plan and how the vision for the city looks. Some people do a great job of being able to read a piece of paper and visualize, but I think it becomes so much easier with the maps.” – Bill Kuhlmann, Northfield Planning Commission Chair, KYMN News File
You can hear my full conversation with Kuhlmann and Riley today at 9am about the approved Comp Plan and the next steps. If you miss it live, you can find it later on our website at KYMNRadio.net or wherever you get your podcasts; simply search for KYMN News.
The approval of the plan had previously been delayed when Councilors Brad Ness and Chad Beumer raised objections to the plan. The council approved the plan on May 20th, with Ness and Beumer being the only no votes.
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