By Maya Betti, News Intern
The Northfield City Council voted unanimously on April 7 to approve just over $1 million in improvements to Central Park, Riverside Lions Park and Dresden Hill Park — three sites council members said have gone far too long without major updates.
The project will be funded entirely through the city’s Park Capital Fund, which will still have about $1.3 million remaining after all three parks are completed and will not have an effect on the tax levy, according to City Administrator Ben Martig.
Many of Northfield’s parks have not seen major updates in decades — most not since the 1990s.
City Consultant Bruce Jacobson, who has been leading the redesign of the parks system, said the plans reflect a significant amount of feedback from community members.
“It’s really gratifying that when we actually cut the ribbon on these things, many of the people who participated along the way will recognize their input in the final product,” Jacobson said.
The city is also working to ensure the old playground equipment is salvaged, rather than discarded. Jacobson said the goal is for little to none of it to end up in a landfill.
A slide from City Consultant Bruce Jacobson’s April 7 presentation to the council, detailing some of the improvements bound for Central Park.
The improvements will bring a mix of updated equipment and entirely new.
Central Park will get new monkey bars, a large climber and spinner and updated walkways. Dresden Hill Park will add a hillside slide, net climber and nature-like stepping features.
Riverside Lions Park will see the biggest change with a new nature-based “Discovery Zone” featuring walkways, climbing structures, boulders and themed play pods, offering a “kind of creative play that you don’t have anywhere [else]” in Northfield, Jacobson said.
The proposed nature-based play zone at Riverside Lions Park.
The updates were met with approval from council members.
“I am very excited to move this forward,” Council Member Kathleen Holmes said. “We have not updated a park since my family and I moved here when my son was five months old. He just turned 11 today.”
Council Member Brad Ness, who noted this was his first vote on a park improvement during his nine years on the council, called the changes “a long time coming.”
With the council’s approval, construction is set to begin later this spring and end roughly in October.
