Chapati’s website this morning carries a brief announcement that they have signed an “interim lease” to remain in their current space in the Archer House “pending relocation to new premises.” This is fantastic news. They will apparently reopen on July 6.
The owners, Norman Butler and Dianne Burry, are still working to obtain the zoning ordinance changes necessary to move the restaurant permanently to 1001 Division Street.
On the first Tuesday morning of each month, the NDDC sponsors a general membership meeting — open to the public — on topics that are of interest to anyone who lives, works or does business in our downtown. The meetings are a great way to meet new people, greet old friends and stay current on ways to keep Northfield’s most precious resource lively and economically viable.
Real estate taxes in historic downtowns will be the topic on Tuesday, July 6, at 8 a.m. in the lower-level conference room of the Archer House in downtown Northfield.
Invited guests include Northfield businessmen and building owners Joe Grundhoefer and Paul Smith, along with the state legislators whose districts include Northfield: Sen. Tom Neuville (R) and Rep. Ray Cox (R), who is up for re-election in November.
Paul Smith owns the newly restored McGuire building (L), as well as the Holland, McClaughry, and West River Plaza buildings. Joe Grundhoefer owns the Reub’n Stein restaurant and building (R). (Click either photo for large, high-res versions.)
Coffee and breakfast treats will be served. For more information, call NDDC Executive Director Ross Currier at 507-663-0319. Come join your friends and neighbors. Learn something new. Ask questions. State your opinion. Hope to see you there.
The final outcome of last night’s public hearing at City Hall regarding Chapati was an action by the City Council to table the discussion until its July 12 meeting. A 45 minute presentation by City Staff was followed by an hour of public comment. Chapati owners Norman Butler and Dianne Burry and their attorney, John Fossum, detailed their reasons for requesting a zoning change for 1001 Division Street. This was followed by a number of citizens both speaking both for and against the requested change.
The Council decided on a 4-2 vote that they needed more time and more information about this issue before making a decision. I believe this was a wise move and will allow for more discussion about not only the nature of the specific intersection of Woodley and Division, but the implications of this topic for the future of downtown Northfield.
Earlier this week I sent the following message to the NDDC Board of Directors. It seems like a good idea to share it now with a wider audience of NDDC members.
What’s Next for Chapati?
On Monday night, June 21st, the Northfield City Council will make a decision on the request of Chapati: A Taste of India restaurant to make a change to the Future Land Use Map in the City’s Comprehensive Plan and a change in the zoning for 1001 Division Street. Norman Butler, owner of Chapati, has said that if he cannot relocate his restaurant to that building which he recently purchased, he will have to close his business. Perhaps the Council will make a decision that determines the fate of Chapati.
As most of you know, Chapati has been a successful restaurant in Northfield for five years. It is a business that not only brings Northfielders downtown, but it brings Minnesotans to Northfield. It would be a great loss to our community if the restaurant closes.
The Northfield Downtown Development Corporation exists to advocate for a vital and sustainable downtown. Many of us believe that this includes advocating for individual businesses.
The time to communicate with your Council members on this issue is NOW . Several of them have told us that the private communication from ward members before the council meeting is what primarily determines their vote at the meeting. We are urging you to contact Council members before Monday night.
We believe that there are a number of points, beyond economic vitality, that can be made in support of Chapati’s request. They include: the historical precedent of the intersection of Woodley and Division being 50-100% non-residential continually back to at least the early 1940s, the need to expand downtown to serve our expanding community, the compatible mix of residential and commerical uses that has been so valuable in other communities, and the fact that the Comp Plan cannot anticipate every possibility for the next five to ten years.
We hope that you will contact members of the City Council and discuss this matter with them. The list of Council members with contact information can be found on the City of Northfield’s website. We urge you to make that contact before Monday night.
We’ve now added RSS to this weblog. What’s RSS?
It’s a radio signal for a website, most commonly used for weblogs. More technically: “Rich Site Summary (RSS) is a lightweight XML format designed for sharing headlines and other Web content. Think of it as a distributable “What’s New” for your site.” See Intro to RSS for more info.
The Newspaper Association of America site has an informative article titled Syndication Made Simple. “Just as free e-mail newsletters enable publishers to directly reach readers and promote online and in-paper content, RSS “pushes” headlines and succinct, one-sentence article descriptions to those who subscribe to the no-cost feeds.”
The other side of syndication is aggregation. Here’s an article from Wired News that explains why aggregators are all the rage: Aggregators Attack Info Overload.
This icon is the cue that we’re RSS capable. So train your aggregator to grab content from NDDC’s syndicated weblog.
