Local Video
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| Council to vote on Fourth Street plans |
By: COREY BUTLER JR., Staff Writer
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Posted: Friday, March 12, 2010 11:48 pm
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NORTHFIELD — If Council approves them Tuesday, plans to reconstruct Fourth Street East between Division and Washington streets will be a go.
But it has been a long road to finish the $2.7 million Fourth Street reconstruction project. About $575,000 was assessed to property owners for the project.
The Streetscape Task Force, charged to review and develop recommendations for downtown improvements, was consulted on the project. The project called for a complete reconstruction of the water and sewer lines, road subgrade and surface, and curbs and sidewalks along Fourth Street East from Division Street to Nevada Street.
Because half of the last block of the project lies within the historic preservation district, the Historic Preservation Commission was consulted on the plans.
The HPC didn’t agree 100 percent with what was presented to them from the task force, and the two groups each presented an option to the council at the March 2 meeting.
The first option presented by the HPC, which was approved by the council with a 5-2 vote, will place small planters along the block’s curbline and place hanging baskets on decorative light poles.
The task force’s option would have also included flush bump-outs on each end of the street and on both sides to house large planters during the spring, summer and fall.
Mayor Mary Rossing, who cast a dissenting vote for the first option, felt the task force’s option would have helped soften the urban environment of downtown.
“I think it’s important to promote an urban forest downtown,” said Rossing, who owns a Division Street business.
Krin Finger, a member of the task force and owner of The Rare Pair, which is located at the corner of Fourth Street East and Division Street, also wants to keep “green” in mind.
Along with the sidewalk reconstruction, several trees will need to come down for the project, thus the push for the planters and hanging baskets.
Brian Hilgardner, an engineer with Bolton & Menk Engineers & Surveyors working on the project, said arborists evaluated the street and recommended removing several.
He said some trees were in poor health and said the lack of space both below the surface and against the buildings didn’t allow for proper growth. Because of the buildings, the trees weren’t getting adequate light.
Having small planters and hanging baskets is a good compromise, said Bob Will, chair of the Heritage Preservation Commission.
“We’re trying to get the downtown to be a little more green,” he said.
Though the bump-outs would have allowed for more plants to be on the street, they would have had to be removed during the winter months so as not to be damaged by snow or plows.
“It won’t be as green,” Will said. “It was felt that the street itself would not be greatly enhanced by these large bump-out planters,” he said.
Finger wants to keep the street as green as possible, but ultimately didn’t care for the bump-outs, saying they were impractical.
COMING UP
• 6 p.m. Monday — Neighborhood meeting to discuss the plan at City Hall, 801 Washington St.
• 7 p.m. Tuesday — Council to vote on resolution to approve plans and advertise for bids for final leg of project
• April 20 — Council expected to vote to approve a bid
• April/May — Walking tour of the project
• November — Substantial completion is expected
• June 2011 — Final layer of asphalt laid
— Corey Butler Jr. covers arts, culture and youth issues. He can be reached at cbutler@northfieldnews.com or 645-1114.
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"the streetscape task force" - i hope these people are volunteers, and aren't drawing a check for this.
"to help soften the urban environment of downtown" - all 3/8 mile worth?
-instead of planters being installed, why doesn't the city fix the planter size potholes on the way to 4th st? a much better proposal.
Yeah, statements like "I think it’s important to promote an urban forest downtown” are a little insensitive right now. Have you folks driven Woodley west of Prairie lately? I just want a road that won't ruin my car...trying to make downtown "a little more green" is obviously further down my priority list.
wxmanvet
BUT everything the city does has to benefit the downtown.
Projects the volunteer Streetscape Task Force consider benefit downtown for good reason: the money comes from a portion of property taxes paid by downtown property owners for the betterment of the downtown district.
Only a small portion of the $3.2 million street project ($65,000) is for downtown enhancements.
The Fourth Street reconstruction has been in the works for several years and includes replacement of utility lines (sewer, water and storm water). In the Fifth Street project (2007 and 2008), some sewer and water lines were up to 50 years old and made of lead and clay, which we now know can be harmful to humans or easily penetrated by tree roots.
I am uncertain that identical conditions exist just a block away from Fifth, but imagine that is the case.
As for Woodley Street West, that is a county road. Work on that street would be undertaken by Rice County. Questions about repairs to that road can be directed to county engineer Dennis Luebbe.
Suzy
NNSuzy,
your last paragraph best describes the attitude of this state and many of its residents. what you're telling my is "woodley st. isn't our problem, it's the counties problem"! well maam, it is our problem. you see, we have to drive on that road to get to downtown, and if you fix downtown, but not right around the corner, it takes away from the fact downtown is "beautified". it's also our problem because northfield is in rice county (last i checked) and the city could put pressure on the county to do the repairs. did anyone ever consider that a joint venture between the city and county could repair both sections for less cost than if done seperately? of course not; it makes sense, and making sense is not what any government (local, state, fed) is about. fix the roads, ALL OF THEM! and don't tell me "we don't have any money".
Correction: Woodley St East (not West) is a county road. Woodley St West is part of MN-246.
And yeah, both Woodley East (except the new portion east of Prairie) and West are atrocious, but the pavement condition is only one (relatively minor) issue. The road is much too wide for a 30 mph road and has no consistent sidewalk coverage -- what sidewalks are there are more dirt than concrete. This is totally unacceptable for a busy residential in a walkable area. While there are other authorities involved, Northfield could certainly be doing more to initiate solutions to these problems.
I stand corrected. Woodley West is a state highway.
Suzy
The city should concentrate on spending money on fixing the residential streets.
I've have numerous people who visit from other communities comment on how nicely kept the downtown area is but when they drive the residential streets they can't believe the conditions of the roads with the potholes and the streets decaying. This in not only fourth street by the old middle school it's all over town, but not downtown. Amazing.
From Griff Wigley at Locally Bought and Paid For;
"There's a public meeting on the 4th St reconstruction project today. Surprised? I was."
"There’s a semi-secret open house today, 6 pm at City Hall (see mtg PDF) on the big 4th Street East reconstruction project [...]"
Surprised? Semi-secret?
Apparently Griff has forgotten how to read? The meeting is mentioned in this article. Maybe he should try reading articles instead of just using them as posts to try to spur discussion on his website?
Maybe he was just mad that nobody thought he was important enough to get an email? Maybe he's being censored? I think what he really needs to do is expand his -umverate. Get Mary Rossing on board, make it a Quad-umverate. Then he'd know everything. He could even throw her a bone now and then.
I've been noticing a lot of work being done of the potholes the last few days or so. To the folks that are making that happen, thanks...I appreciate it.