A couple of our recent posts and comment threads have alluded to walkability, pedestrian-friendliness and multi-modal transportation in Northfield. I just found a nifty new site that utilizes the power of Google to rate how walkable different cities (and neighborhoods) are. It’s a cool example of the kind of mutation that can happen when cross planning geeks with web developers and cross-pollinate with a few eco-Nazis. I like it.
According to the authors, some features that make an area walkable are: … [read more]
Made you look. 
The Planning Commission and City staff have a big week ahead of us. The consultants from ACP Visioning and Planning will be in town most of the week, and some of us are involved in meetings Monday night, Tuesday morning, Tuesday night, Wednesday night, and Thursday morning (whew!). Check out the official schedule on NorthfieldPlan.org.
Note: The photo above is of planning commissioner Alice Thomas, taken today in Oman. She may be jet-lagged for next week’s series of meetings, but she appears to have a good shot at being relaxed and happy.
There’s been discussion on the ISSUES list recently about balancing development and farm preservation. Obviously, like any complex issue, there are many angles from which this may be approached, and it’s particularly relevant to Northfield, with its strong agricultural base and its history as an essentially rural community.
The summer issue of the Planning Commissioners Journal had an interesting article about the growing interest in farmland protection, and the steps some municipalities have taken to create a solution that balances competing needs and tries to accommodate as many as possible. It isn’t too early for us to be pondering what we citizens want our community to be, and to look like, as far as the surrounding greenbelt is concerned. If we want to keep it as a resource and a part of our community identity, steps need to be taken and plans laid.
If we don’t want to preserve this resource, or we simply don’t care one way or another, the good news is: we don’t have to do a thing! The mindless “free market” will make all the decisions for us.
And I’m sure the free market has our best interest at heart.
The Real Estate section of Sunday’s New York Times featured an article about urban planning issues and the controversy surrounding the use (or misuse) of the cul-de-sac by developers. Northfield was cited as an example of the controversy. (If you can’t view the article with the link, you can download the article in PDF format here.)
Being “against” cul-de-sacs seems positively un-American. But rather than being viewed as against cul-de-sacs, I’d prefer to be seen as for multiple means of mobility and pedestrian-scaled planning. It’s my way of resisting unsustainable automobile-dependent development styles which are 1) a historical and cultural anomaly, 2) not well suited to a geographically compact community like Northfield and 3) a stupid idea whose time is long past, especially in view of rising fuel prices and greenhouse gas emissions.
Planning commission chair Ross Currier said, “I love the fact that what gets Northfield in the New York Times is our planning debates…”
High-school student Sean O’Leary kicked off a terrific discussion on Northfield.org’s “Issues” list recently. The discussion is relevant to anyone living in Northfield, and I thought it was worth posting some of the highlights here.
If you’d like to participate in this and other discussions on the Issues list, you need to subscribe to the list ; postings to the list are delivered right to your email inbox, and you can unsubscribe at any time. (If you just want to read but not post, you can view the discussions online and see what’s being said. But the more participation, the better! )
-td
I was walking through the maze of what will be *Bridgewater Heights today. I noticed details on the window of one of the units that was closer to completion — they were set up in nine panes instead of one. I thought it unique. Then I realized that *every* other window in sight was equally “unique.”
But looking around at almost all recent developments in Northfield seem to be the same way. Almost all the development on the south side (south of the High School) is the same way. And look over near the Northfield Retirement Center — the north side is no better. Northfielders are constantly priding themselves on the history and integrity of our town — and its buildings. Based on what most residential development is looking to be like, we’re becoming another dull, generic suburb. Anyone else have some thoughts? If not big-picture Northfield development, how about what shade of taupe will be all the rage next year?
*Technically, Bridgewater Heights is in Dundas.
Sean Hayford O’Leary, student
http://sdho.org
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At the 3-22-2006 meeting, the EDA approved funding of $20,000 to the Northfield Downtown Development Corporation. The NDDC has achieved several visible accomplishments in the past year and has many more plans for 2006 and beyond. The NDDC is the organization to thank for providing the impetus for the new street banners, the full-color Downtown Directory in Bridge Square, renewed Third Thursday cultural programming, ArtSwirl, and many retail initiatives. Their partnerships with the Northfield Arts Guild, the colleges, local businesses and downtown property owners, and others leverages the dollars invested and helps promote both the economic vitality of Northfield and a serious amount of goodwill between these organizations with different priorities and focuses (or foci, in the case of the colleges).
This morning, the EDA met with the board of the Northfield Enterprise Center for a strategic planning meeting.
A little history may be in order. From the earliest days of the EDA’s existence (early 1990s), part of its vision was for a “business incubator” or service/facility to encourage businesses in their initial stages of startup and growth. An organization independent of the EDA would be able to operate faster and more flexibly than a municipal entity is able to do, and it was determined that an organization with non-profit status would be in the best position to accomplish some of the EDA’s goals. Due to a change in Minnesota state law in the late 90s, the City/EDA was unable to incorporate a non-profit entity, so the decision was made to establish the NEC as a fully independent organization with only the loosest possible (informal) affiliation with the EDA. The NEC was spun off from the EDA in 2001 and incorporated as a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, and the EDA has contributed the major portion of funding for the NEC since that time. The allocation for 2006 is $45,000.
This morning’s meeting focused on the future direction of the NEC. Over the past three years, the NEC has achieved several notable accomplishments, among them partnering with Carleton, St. Olaf, First National Bank, Community National Bank, and Wells Fargo Northfield to establish a $1.5M community investment fund. Along the way the NEC also provided many businesses and individuals with management and technical assistance as a U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) partner; coordinated the efforts of student interns in Northfield’s College Board of Business Consultants (CBBC); and worked closely with City staff to provide information and service to companies requiring certain kinds of assistance.
It is to be hoped, and seems likely, that the NEC and the EDA will continue to partner in promoting the economic health and vitality of Northfield. I’ll be blogging on new developments as they occur. For now, suffice it to say that there may be some exciting new directions for both organizations as we continue refining and reshaping our goals and objectives in response to the community’s changing needs.
Full disclosure:
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Tonight, the EDA and City staff were invited to meet with the Northfield Downtown Development Corporation for “Beer & Brats” at the Rueb-N-Stein. There was no agenda for the meeting, just an opportunity for both organizations to get to know each other and to discuss ideas and issues of mutual relevance. Ross Currier, Executive Director of the NDDC, opened things up by thanking everyone for attending, and asking what the NDDC could do to support the EDA in their mission.
… [read more]
Okay, here by popular demand is the preliminary Northfield “Community Assessment” document from TIP Strategies. Feel free to comment here, or start a discussion on the Issues list.
Last week, TIP Strategies, the firm retained by the EDA to create an economic development plan for Northfield, returned for their second “context mapping” session in which we met with local officials and business representatives to present and discuss TIP’s findings to date. I put up a very ugly HTML version of the PowerPoint presentation from the meeting. I’d welcome any questions or comments, with the caveat that the full analysis is not complete, and the specific recommendations will not be known for another month or two. (You can follow the developments and timeline on TIP’s project website for Northfield.)
Don’t touch that dial! More to follow, Real Soon Now.
