Welcome to the unofficial page for the Northfield 2045 Comprehensive Plan project. This page to runs parallel to the official process with added content and/or value (see the disclaimer over here).
The Comprehensive Plan is the community’s vision for Future Northfield. What kinds of housing, jobs, parks, or ways to travel should Northfield focus on in the next 20 years? Will your kids be able to live and work in Northfield? As you age, will Northfield have what you need? Can you start or grow your business here? Is Northfield doing enough to promote equity, address climate change, and foster business growth?
in 1966 with an office tower. What could Bridge Square 2026 look like?
And, it is a plan to guide growth in a coordinated and well-justified manner (i.e., economically sustainable and following the policy direction laid out in the plan). Increasingly, cities (including Northfield) are recognizing that how we have built has huge human impacts as well as dollar costs.
Current policy strongly supports more investment in sustainability, walking and biking, and equity. Policies in the 2008 Plan and afterward call for making biking and walking safer and easier, developing more affordable housing and making Northfield a more equitable and inclusive community. The Climate Action Plan sets a goal of being a carbon-free community by 2040. Northfield 2045 can refine these priorities and plan for how we’ll reach those goals (or set different goals).
Northfield 2045 should be an exciting and challenging exercise in possibility and then problem solving with the City about how to do the work. Click through to learn more about all of it with these links to other posts (if there’s no link, I’m still working on it), documents, and information about the process and the content. I’ll update this as things move along.
- Plan process and progress: The quick view of the parts of the process, what’s happened so far, and what’s still coming up with links to available updates and reports.
- Public engagement Links to documents and other information about what the consultants have been asking, who they’ve talked to, what they’ve learned, and other opportunities to weigh in including public meetings, online opportunities, etc.
- How Northfield has grown: A mostly visual survey of Northfield since the first comp plan in 1966.
- All the plans: Northfield has a lot of plans incorporated into the 2008 Comprehensive Plan and some adopted since then. Here’s an annotated list.
- FAQ: Answers to questions about the Comp Plan.