NOTE: During the Locally Grown sabbatical, I’ll be doing the Friday Memo updates here.
The “Friday Memo,” written by Northfield City Administrator Joel Walinski, department heads, and other City staff, summarizes the staff activities for the week. The Friday memos are published and archived in PDF form at the bottom of the City Administrator’s web page. The Friday Memo information from the Library, Streets & Parks, and Recreation departments would be of interest to most citizens. I hope the interim City Administrator, Tim Madigan, continues the Friday Memo tradition.
Here’s the link to this week’s memo (PDF), which contains a Safety Center planning update, 4th Street construction progress report, numbers for swimming pool attendance, and so much more!
It’s the fifth Tuesday of the month, so no Council meeting this week, woo-hoo! But don’t miss the farewell gathering for Joel, Melissa Reeder, and Brian O’Connell on Wednesday, Sept. 1 at 3:00p in the City Council chambers.
You can view all upcoming City meetings on the City Calendar.
[See previous Friday Memos on LoGroNo]
My Locally Grown blogging buddy Griff Wigley notified me that my character was being defamed in the first couple of comments on this Northfield News article. (“Defamation of character” is the communication of false information stated as a fact which brings harm to an individual or an entity.)
I’d prefer not to dignify the comment by repeating it here, but this post won’t make sense if I don’t. A commentor who calls him- or herself “missionaccomplished”, whose anonymity is being protected by the Northfield News, wrote in part:
Great, the planning commission throws away our money. Then we’ll get our water and waste rates raised to pay for it.
I think the “zoning czarina” has thrown the city’s budget under the bus by spending possibly as much as $200,000? The real question is, having spent this money and wasted 2 years, what do we do? . . . wait another year and spend another 100,000. . .
I can only imagine that the genesis of this bizarre and frankly libelous statement came from the budget-cutting suggestions made by Noah Cashman in a previous article, in which he recommended that the City “terminate the profligate waste of $200,000 and counting by the planning commission”.
My first impulse (surprise!) was to respond with something like, “DAMN! Now where did I put that money?” But this really is much more serious. Ignoring the advice of my attorneys, I’ll overlook the personal aspect for the moment, and also not make a big deal out of the fact that I’ve only been Chair of the Planning Commission for seven months. What can’t remain unchallenged is the false, destructive, and totally unfair crack at my colleagues on the Commission.
Here are the facts. … [read more]
NOTE: During the Locally Grown sabbatical, I’ll be doing the Friday Memo updates here. There was no memo published last week for August 13.
The “Friday Memo,” written by Northfield City Administrator Joel Walinski, department heads, and other City staff, summarizes the staff activities for the week. The Friday memos are published and archived in PDF form at the bottom of the City Administrator’s web page.
The Friday Memo information from the Library, Streets & Parks, and Recreation departments would be of interest to most citizens. Here is this week’s memo (PDF). Items of note include:
- Update and response regarding the Home Matters project
- Info about Northfield Historical Society’s new iPod tours
- What’s being done with various grant monies received
- Draft agenda for September City Council meetings
Tomorrow night (Monday, Aug. 23) is the public forum on the City budget. Be there or be square. There’s a City Council work session on Tuesday. You can view all upcoming City meetings on the City Calendar.
[See previous Friday Memos on LoGroNo]
NOTE: During the Locally Grown sabbatical, I’ll be doing the Friday Memo updates here.
The “Friday Memo,” written by Northfield City Administrator Joel Walinski, department heads, and other City staff, summarizes the staff activities for the week. The Friday memos are published and archived in PDF form at the bottom of the City Administrator’s web page.
The Friday Memo information from the Library, Streets & Parks, and Recreation departments would be of interest to most citizens. Here is this week’s memo (PDF). Since it’s the first Friday of the month, the Friday Memo also includes the monthly Boards and Commissions update.
There will be a Special City Council meeting on Monday, 7:40 AM to interview candidates for the interim City Administrator position, and an evening meeting that night for selection of the candidate. There is no City Council meeting on Tuesday due to the City primary election (for one at-large councillor, and the Fourth Ward).
You can view all upcoming City meetings on the City Calendar.
[See previous Friday Memos on LoGroNo]
The Planning Commission is currently working on the commercial zoning regulations of the draft Land Development Code, and in addition to meeting with stakeholder groups, we’ve been trying to review and reference existing work that previous Commissions and Councils have done.
This helps us to maintain continuity wherever possible; avoid reinventing the wheel; and honor the many hours of work that have been put into some of these visioning documents and the tax dollars that have been spent on plans and supporting studies.
I’ve taken pains to get electronic copies of these documents (not always easy) and have included them on my Northfield Resources page. The recently added documents are:
I’ll keep adding more chewy planning goodness as I find it.
The League of Minnesota Cities announced yesterday the appointments to MNDoT’s Complete Streets Advisory Group. I’ve been selected as the alternate to represent outstate/rural cities. I’m looking forward to working with this group of people from across the State to help pave the way (pun intended) for streets designed for people, not only for large motorized vehicles.
In celebration of my appointment, and inspired by some of the bikes I saw on my trip to Belgium and the Netherlands a few months ago, I decided to pimp my ride for the spring. Here’s “Rosebud II”.
MNDoT’s summary page about Complete Streets says,
Complete Streets does not mean “all modes on all roads”; rather, the goal of Complete Streets should be to
1) develop a balanced transportation system that integrates all modes via planning inclusive of each mode of transportation (i.e., transit, freight, automobile, bicycle and pedestrian) and
2) include transportation users of all types, ages and abilities.
Being one of the first DOTs to adopt a policy requiring Context Sensitive Solutions and with its new Strategic Vision, Mn/DOT is already well positioned to support Minnesota in a Complete Streets approach to transportation investment. Three local agencies (Hennepin County and the cities of St. Paul and Rochester) in Minnesota have already adopted their own resolutions for Complete Streets, indicating that Complete Streets are achievable at a local level.
Mn/DOT needs to be prepared to assist local agencies in developing their local Complete Streets approach and to assist their specific project development needs.
To learn more about the idea behind complete streets, see also:
I’m sure I’ll be writing more about this as time goes on.
There was substantial public comment at Tuesday’s City Council meeting regarding the Fourth Street reconstruction project plan to replace the vulnerable ash trees between Washington and Division with hanging baskets and planters, rather than with new trees. (You can watch the comments and discussion of the issue at the City Council meeting beginning at time marker 01:19:02 on the KYMN video of the meeting.)
At Tuesday’s meeting, the Council directed City staff to “have staff put trees back in the sidewalk area”, “as much, as many as possible”. Several times the issue of Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was brought up as the reason why sidewalk trees were not possible. No one at the meeting, including City Attorney Chris Hood, seemed to know for sure what those regulations actually are.
Another objection to sidewalk trees is that they would apparently make it impossible to have the same sort of treatment/pavers as were used in the Fifth Street project last summer due to the difference in the sidewalk widths. (I’ll bet most residents, if given the choice, would prefer trees and different sidewalk treatment over no trees but with uniformity of pavers.)
Of course, there’s a discussion of this issue on Locally Grown.
As this year’s Keeper of the Keys to the Comprehensive Plan, I thought it would be appropriate for me to post some of the mentions of street trees in the Comp Plan, just to keep Northfield’s guiding document in people’s minds as it relates to this issue.
Street/sidewalk/boulevard trees are referred to in several different areas of the Comprehensive Plan. They’re mentioned as a part of community identity; as part of land use policy; and also in the environmental resources chapter, to name a few. For example:
CI (Community Identity) 4.4: Require new neighborhoods to create neighborhood scaled streets, with street trees and sidewalks (see Figure 4.4).
LU (Land Use) 4.4: Create regulations that require high-quality pedestrian streets with sidewalks, street trees, and adequate lighting, where appropriate.
ER (Environmental Resources) 9.1: The City will develop an urban forest management policy that addresses protection or replacement of significant trees on developed property and all land scheduled for development. This management policy will also establish standards for tree species and location within and near public right-of-way and easements.
ER (Environmental Resources) 10.2: Develop land use policies to manage and reduce urban heat island effects, including promoting shading of streets and parking lots with more trees.
Some of the benefits of street trees were stated in the 2006 Streetscape Framework Plan:
Overstory street trees increase the desirability of pedestrian activity, enhance the civic status of the street, and increase adjacent property values. Along with the overall width of the street, trees are a primary element in providing a sense of safe separation from traffic.
You can see from the examples above that street trees in Northfield are not just a nice amenity; they also represent our history, our values, and our identity as an historic town with an eye toward a sustainable future.
I’m very glad that the City Council took the action it did on Tuesday. It’s not a trivial issue, or one of micromanagement, for the Council to get involved when a plan is brought forward which does not give adequate weight to existing plans, recommendations, studies, governing documents, and long-term expression of citizen preference.
The words “walkability” and “connectivity” have probably been engraved on my brain due to the extensive work the Planning Commission has been doing on our draft Land Development Code (zoning ordinances), so I was interested but not at all surprised to learn that there can be a clear economic benefit to living in neighborhoods or communities that meet certain criteria for walkability:
A study published in August by C.E.O.’s for Cities. . . looked at the sales of 90,000 homes in 15 markets to estimate how much value was associated with something called the Walk Score. Using a 100-point scale, this score rates the number of destinations, including libraries, parks and coffee shops, within walking distance of a home. . . The study found that houses with above-average Walk Scores commanded a premium.
I wrote a post about WalkScore a couple of years ago. Some parts of Northfield score very highly; other parts are much worse than the national average. How does your address do? Does this tell us anything about corrections we should make in our built environment? Is it valid?
Additional links and information:
