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Recent posts
- Northfield 2045 January 15, 2024
- A very short history of bike planning in Northfield August 30, 2023
- Ole Avenue questions persist February 15, 2021
- Vote local October 1, 2020
- Urbanists tweet about the roundabout November 14, 2019
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Author Archives: Betsey Buckheit
Northfield 2045
This is not the official Northfield 2045 Comprehensive Plan page (it’s over here); this is an introduction to the unofficial page. Disclaimer: State law gives the Planning Commission the duty to recommend a Plan to the Council, so as Planning … Continue reading
Posted in Budget, Democracy & civic engagement, Land use, Policy problems
Tagged Comprehensive Plan
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A very short history of bike planning in Northfield
I have been spending a lot of time as the unofficial historian of bike, pedestrian and street planning over on Facebook, so I decided to put together a quick history of how we got here. This is the bullet point … Continue reading
Ole Avenue questions persist
Ole Avenue is St. Olaf’s planned residence hall/townhome project: This is an exciting project, mostly. New residence halls and townhomes will bring students back on campus, St. Olaf Avenue will be reinforced as the tree-lined entrance to the campus from … Continue reading
Vote local
Northfield City Council elections might seem less than important when the world is on fire both literally (wildfires, protests) and figuratively (covid-19, presidential election, Black Lives Matter, Supreme Court, climate destruction, recession, unemployment…). Most people think of city government as … Continue reading
Urbanists tweet about the roundabout
Last week, the Strib ran an article about Northfield’s planned roundabout with tunnels for people biking and walking: Twitter responds As a result, one local urbanist (streets.mn founder, active with Strong Towns, Planning Commissioner, and good guy) tweets: In turn, … Continue reading
UPDATE! Northfield does get the message right
Look! Northfield has updated its sidewalk stencils for directing bicycle traffic off the sidewalks: A few years ago, I complained about the City of Northfield’s misleadingly negative image on downtown sidewalks: Really, let’s have more bikes downtown (and skateboards – … Continue reading
Posted in Transportation
Tagged bicycling, City of Northfield, featured, transportation
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Golden Opportunity paved over at Greenvale Park
The new Greenvale Park Elementary School will improve the inside-the-building issues from no doors to more security to better tech and has been planned with detailed input from teachers and parents. Far less attention was paid to outside the school, … Continue reading
Posted in Land use, Transportation
Tagged featured, Greenvale Park Elementary School, planning, walkablility
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History Matters: How we got to the roundabout at Jefferson Parkway and Division Street
The Northfield City Council is poised to approve a design for a roundabout plus bike and walk facilities at Jefferson Parkway and Division Street/TH246. This is a once-in-a-generation large project to begin to reconnect Northfield could have been avoided or … Continue reading
The tip of the Ice Arena budget iceberg
The voters said “no” to building a new Arena, but the old Arena is still City property, is still operated by the City, is still barely functional, and whether to fix it is still unresolved. But budget season for the City will soon be underway and some choices will need to be made. Continue reading
ADUs: Reframing the discussion
After what seemed like unanimity and a strong sense of purpose at the Planning Commission, the Council discussion about Accessory Dwelling Units has been dispiriting to watch thus far and the public comments even more so. Since the Council will … Continue reading
Posted in Housing, Policy problems
Tagged ADU, featured, housing, neighborhoods, Planning Commission
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