Councilor: Parking and trail both possible
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Send to friendBy SUZANNE ROOK srook@northfieldnews.com
TAKE A LOOK
To view a map designating the route of the proposed pedestrian walkway, click on the first link below.
To view copies of letters of support for the trail grant application, click on the second link below.
With letters of support from 11 area organizations, Erica Zweifel feels good about the city’s chances to snag $1.05 million in federal funds for a trail connecting both sides of town.
Zweifel, a city councilor who represents Northfield’s west side, was the force behind the application.
During her 2008 campaign for council, Zweifel talked about linking the city’s halves with a pedestrian bridge to improve safety for bicyclists and those on foot.
The current project will allow “you to get on your bike at Greenvale Park School and go downtown without crossing the highway,” Zweifel said of the plan for a trail from the southeast corner of Greenvale Avenue to Second Street. It would include two underpasses on both sides of the railroad, one forking off toward St. Olaf Avenue.
Part of Zweifel’s research has been investigating how to land a grant, finding that successful applicants had community support.
The proposal “will greatly improve the conditions in which certain residents of Northfield live and play,” wrote Growing Up Healthy Coordinator Janet Lewis Muth, noting that many low income families walk along a busy Hwy. 3 to get to the east side of town where much of the shopping lies.
“The proposed project will give pedestrians a signed and paved alternative route, creating a much safer environment for families and drivers alike,” she wrote.
But not everyone agrees that the proposal is the best plan.
A letter from the Northfield Downtown Development Corp. supports improved pedestrian safety in town, but its some board members question the current plan.
While the entire board supports increased access to downtown and improved pedestrian safety, it questioned the wisdom of spending more than $1.5 million — including the city’s $500,000 share — on this plan, said NDDC Board President Greg Kneser.
A few board members also worry that the city’s portion of the project will reduce available funding for additional parking downtown, an identified need for 40 years.
Zweifel believes both projects can be done, though she’s not committed to a specific parking plan. The council this year halted a $760,000 plan to add 31 parking stalls, opting to tackle that project themselves.
She believes money allocated for another trail may be available for parking and is waiting for an updated project list.
“I don’t think out projects are at cross purposes,” she said. “I hear their concerns. I hear their priority.”
Grant finalists should be announced by year’s end
— Suzanne Rook can be reached at 507-645-1113.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| map of proposed pedestrian walkway.pdf | 468.36 KB |
| TIGER Grant Letters.pdf | 1.78 MB |
Copyright © 2012 Northfield News • Phone: 507.645.5615 • Fax: 507.645.6005 • 115 West 5th Street • Northfield, MN 55057
Comments
Comments
#1 task force recommendation
Suzy...if you're looking into this subject more, people should read this article from 2003
http://northfieldnews.com/content/task-force-offers-its-own-parking-solu...
The same parking task force that everyone downtown points to, which says we need more parking, also said it should be added primarily in the form of addional layers in the McClaughry Deck area.
It's funny how the NDDC and others have conveniently forgotten that part of the recommendation in recent comments and lobbying efforts.
The article also states that downtown folks, including the NDDC, were against the idea of building more parking primarily because they didn't want the assessments put on their buildings to pay for it. They want parking that will benefit them, but they don't want to pay a penny for it, they want the rest of us to.
My sense is they, and councilors who live nearby, don't want a parking garage there. Maybe that's why nobody said anything when Rhonda Pownell reminded everyone that such a project is by far the cheapest solution. Is it nimbyism?
So if Zwiefel thinks there's money for everything, except apparently a Safety Center, which is something that unlike these two projects, we actually need,....
then she should at least advocate for the most cost effective addition of parking, rather than the option she currently backs.
#2 original intent
The other claim that keeps getting made about how we should spend tif monies, is that the original priority for this money was downtown parking.
Is there any factual evidence of that? Minutes of Council Meetings, documents, etc? Or do we just take the word of the people who are lobbying to build a parking lot?
If parking really was a priority, than why wasn't that the first project that got done? Why instead was money first spent on things like paver crosswalks, little iron bridges over walkways, etc., etc.?
I think they're all making up this tif spending as they're going along.
#3 Intent
Spenditall,
I haven't seen council minutes related to the TIF, but I do have a February 1986 Northfield News article in which then Community Development Director Dave Maroney discusses using the money for several things, including a public parking lot.
I plan to blog about that in a day or two.
Stay tuned.
Suzy
#4 New post
Spenditall,
As promised, I have posted the 11th letter. All are now in the attachment at the end of the story.
Suzy
#5 Not vetted?
Now I'm really confused.
1st of all, Kneser says he doesn't think Northfield residents have vetted this trail/crossing project. But he advocates for the parking project, even though that's never been vetted, except for the 35 signatures that the NDDC gathered.
For that matter, I don't know that any of the downtown spending projects or the NDDC funding ever have been vetted.
Suzy...thanks for attaching those letters. That's really interesting. Is that one letter from the president of Carleton? Also a letter from our very own Superintendent. The mayor of Dundas?
and wait....that one letterhead looks familiar....is it...really, a letter from the President of the NDDC, Greg Kneser? So even though the project hasn't been vetted, Kneser and the NDDC support it, at the same time they support the competing parking project. So which would they choose? I'd like to see an explanation of that.
Very interesting...no letter from the president of StOlaf, even though his Dean and VP of facilities support it.
In the end, I still tend to feel that in this economy, the only way to spend the tif money is for the safety center, or to decertify it.
#6 Yes
Spenditall,
The Carleton College letter is from Steven Poskanzer, the school's president.
Suzy
#7 Update
I have attached 9 of the 10 letters of support to this story. I'll add the 10th letter, from the Transit Initiative group, on Monday.
Please note there is a letter from St. Olaf College.
Suzy
#8 Nice, but not needed...
I walk and ride my bike from the north side to downtown twelve months a year. A trail simply is not needed, and we can't afford the absurdly high cost. One must only use the state of the art crossing lights at the intersection to cross highway 3. That's what St. Olaf people will continue to do anyway, even if the trail is built, because the trail would take them out of their way.
If we build this trail it will be like the bicycle bridge over the river behind Walgreen's-- a lovely but unused symbol of unnecessary government spending.
#9 downtown lobbying again
We have to remember that the NDDC exists for the purpose of lobbying the city council and the public on behalf of downtown businesses.
Their job is to always advocate for that which most benefits downtown, not that which benefits Northfield as a whole, or any other segment of its population.
So it's not surprising that the president of its board would choose a temporary parking lot for 30 cars, later to be made part of a library addition, over a safe crossing over hwy 3.
What is surprising is that Mr Kneser, who is I believe, a Dean at St Olaf, would not choose to advocate for this crossing project.
It would seem that St Olaf students might benefit greatly from this project, if done correctly, as they would be the majority of people using it.
#10 Spend
Spenditall,
Thanks for your comments.
What Mr. Kneser said to me is that this project has not been vetted by Northfield residents. He noted that the last time the city applied for a federal TIGER grant, it requested funding for a pedestrian bridge at Second Street.
This proposal was presented to the council at the start of the meeting in which it was approved.
Mr. Kneser also noted the cost of the project and wondered whether this was the best way to spend that amount of money. He was clear to say that is could be the best way to spend the money, but at this point it's difficult to know for certain.
One clarification in your comment — while one council member suggested the area proposed for a new parking lot could later be used for a library expansion, the council has had no discussion on the topic.
Suzy