I’m surprised how few people know that the City of Northfield commissioned an engineering study of the Northfield Safety Center to determine what would be needed to deal with its proximity to the Cannon River.
The report, prepared by Art Kalmes, URS Corporation, is included in the packet for the Council work session on August 31, 2009 (badly formatted PDF), and identified four different options for levels of flood protection, the most costly in the $350,000 range. See pages 8-9 for the consultant’s summary of the options, paraphrased here:
- Option A involves the constructing a levee and floodwall around the perimeter of the facility
- Option B raises the parking lot to allow access to the building expansion which would be elevated above the 100-year flood level
- Option C is similar to Option C but would abandon the lowest level of the existing building
- Option D calls for wet flood proofing of the existing building
Yes, last fall’s 100-year flood threatened the Safety Center. But it survived pretty well and flooding can be mitigated for a relatively small amount of money.
Yes, we need a bigger and better fire facility and the police facility needs many improvements. But that doesn’t mean the current Safety Center (the same age as Greenvale School), should be thrown away.
There are many other reasons that the City Council should not issue a bond for a new Safety Center facility right now. This is one. Contact members of the Northfield City Council and then show up at next Tuesday’s (March 1) public hearing at City Hall.
See the full engineering report (PDF) starting on page 8 or view it in a variety of ways below:
Review of Flood Protection Alternatives – Northfield Safety Center
Current Discussion Threads