I began complaining about the construction mess on the undeveloped parts of the corner of Hwy 3 and 2nd St. back in the spring of 2007. I blogged about it a year later. It’s still a shithole and it became obvious again when the snow melted a few weeks ago.
Brian O’Connell, Northfield Community Development Director, updated the Council on it last summer (July 10, 2009 Friday Memo) saying “Cost estimates for site improvements yet to be installed are being obtained.” I don’t know if he’s given any updates since then.
I’m deliberately not using the usual names and phrases (tags) of this development in this post, as I don’t want the search engines to make the association and have it be listed towards the top of a search. The current realtor is making progress on selling units and I do want the development to succeed.
Give the Dirty Girls a big fat fee and a bulldozer.
3 years… (walks away shaking his head).
Gateway? This is in the middle of town. Seems like our “gateways” are more on 19 west by St. Olaf, 19 east be Carlton, 3 south by Cub/Target and 3 north by the implement dealers. Maybe I’m just parcing things too closely. Either way, the mess really should be cleaned up. Any volunteer groups interested? Rotary? Lions?
John, it could be considered a gateway to downtown, maybe.
Phil- Yes, and it could also be considered a gateway to Hwy. 3 north and Hwy 19 east. Seems like 5th Street is more of a gateway to downtown, but I’m just being picky.
Progress! The cleanup is on the Council agenda for next Tues. See pages 6-11 of the packet pdf:
John —
I think you make an excellent point. Whether we like it or not, the gateways to Northfield are the highways. On my first-year move-in day at St. Olaf, I asked my roommate’s parents if they’d been downtown, and they responded, “Well you know, we drove down the main drag. What’s it called again? Highway 3? Yeah we drove out to Target; it was alright.”
Like it or not, as you said, this (and Highway 19 from the west) is our entrance. And, in addition to being unsafe for cars and pedestrians alike, it looks like crap.
Another consideration is that much of the Highway 3 and 19 areas that require improvement are already in the public right-of-way. The Crossing, with the exception of the land immediately adjacent to the river, is private land. And while it’s the City’s concern, it seems like this public land that’s much more visible should be a higher priority.
The Council approved the agreement with Highland Bank last night.
Nfld News:
The Crossing property moves closer to clean up