Board and staff members of the NDDC, EDA, and Chamber of Commerce, along with a staff member of the NEC, joined by a number of commercial property owners and the Mayor of Northfield, reviewed the work plan resulting from the series of summits on in-fill and redevelopment held over the past few months on Saturday morning and gave it an initial “thumbs-up”.

The Partners, stating that their organizational priorities for 2009 include some of the tactics identified by the stakeholder input and that implementation efforts are underway, expressed their belief that the greater the coordination and collaboration of our efforts, the greater the efficiency and effectiveness in our outcomes.

The work plan, or “Matrix”, is a focusing and structuring of the one hundred ideas gathered at the three summits and, in its full format, includes assignment of responsibilities, time-lines, and outcome measures. It is summarized below in a table or view/download the PDF:

Pictured here are NDDC Board Member Jeff Hasse and former NDDC President Mary Rossing, catching up on local news before the meeting started. Chamber President Hasse and Northfield Mayor Rossing were joined at the Gathering by Council Members Betsey Buckheit and Rhonda Pownell, EDA Members David Van Wylen, Victor Summa and Steve Engler, City Staff Joel Walinksi and Jody Gunderson, Planning Commissioner Alice Thomas, Building and Business Owners Julie Bixby, Todd Byhre, Blake Abdella, Kiffi Summa, Joe Grundhoefer, and Mark Quinnell, and NDDC Board President Keith Covey.

Several of the attendees described challenges that they had faced while pursuing economic expansion. While acknowledging that there may have been imperfect processes in the past, Rossing, Thomas, and Walinski expressed hope and/or confidence that many changes had been implemented or were underway which should greatly improve, through speed, clarity and consistency, the process.

Mayor Rossing encouraged business and building owners who had encountered such frustrations with the economic development process to share them with her. Mary can be found most days at Present Perfect, 419 South Division Street.

The gathering concluded with a brief discussion of tools for economic expansion. The remarks focused on addressing issues raised in the discussion of obstacles. Walinski announced that Gunderson would work as an advocate for projects within the City’s process and Rossing suggested that the City should consider providing grants or no-interest loans to address additional costs generated by the building official’s interpretation of the construction codes.

All of the participants seemed to agree that improving our processes is an on-going effort. Discussing the problems is a start, devising and implementing proposed solutions is the next step, and evaluating the results completes the cycle.

Yes, there’s a new one…and it went up just in time for ArtSwirl. Bart DeMalignon and Jim Bohnhoff put up this cool “Art” sign on the Grezzo Gallery Building. Local art sign critics Chip DeMann and Maggie Lee seem to approve.

Okeh, now back to your regularly scheduled (ArtSwirl) programming.

Today, Friday, among other things, there’s the Northfield Arts Guild Ballet Performance on the Cannon River Pedestrian Bridge, 6 pm, Storytelling: Real Lives Aloud at the Arts Guild Theater, 7:30 pm, and the Meredith Fierke CD Release Event at the Grand Event Center, 8 pm.

Tomorrow, Saturday, a portion of the possibilities includes the Artists’ Market in Bridge Square, 12 to 6 pm, Performing Arts on the Showmobile in Bridge Square, 1 pm to 9 pm, and the Downtown Gallery and Studio Crawl, 6 to 9 pm.

Then Sunday, there’s the Greater Northfield Studio Tour, 12 – 5 pm, including the Unveiling of “Between Earth and Sky”, and Politics and a Pint, at the Contented Cow, 6 pm.

The NDDC spent time reviewing these increases and analyzing their causes and effects. We identified three key issues in the property tax challenge:

1. A disincentive to invest in older commercial buildings
2. A disconnect between property taxes and building income
3. A growing inequity between the commercial and residential sectors

Former State Senator Tom Neuville proposed legislation to address the first issue. It’s called “This Old Building” and protects the property owner from being taxed on any increase in value resulting from investment in the building for a five-year period.

Through an introduction provided by State Representative David Bly, we met State Representative Paul Marquart, Chair of the Property Tax Relief and Local Sales Tax Division Committee. Representative Marquart has proposed legislation to address the second issue. We’re calling it “This Old District”, at least for now. It identifies special Districts of older commercial buildings and exempts those buildings from the statewide C/I property tax.

After working quite hard on this issue for several years, and seeing limited results, this latest step appears to be real and substantive progress. This proposed legislation can provide meaningful relief to older commercial districts throughout Greater Minnesota.

We are pleased to be making steady progress on the property tax challenge, with potential legislation to address the first two issues. The NDDC will continue to work with state legislators to try to find policy recommendations that will result in potential legislation to address the third issue in the property tax challenge.

Eight years of double-digit property tax increases has put our older commercial districts at extreme economic risk. By systematically addressing all of the related issues, we can find a comprehensive solution.

The Chamber of Commerce Board had voted at their March 4 meeting in support of these efforts. The NDDC has been working on this issue for some time.

All three of these groups seem to believe that the experience of communities throughout the United States, and around the world, demonstrates that sidewalk dining encourages a pedestrian-oriented environment, helps to create a visually attractive atmosphere and streetscape, promotes expansion by existing businesses, and stimulates overall commerce in the community.

Together, step by step, we’re accomplishing great things.

Commercial real estate taxes in Downtown Northfield have been increasing on average 30% per year for the past 7 years. These increases are threatening the economic viability of the downtown district.

The folks from the NDDC and Rice County reviewed the sources of the issue, efforts at the state level, important data and background material to assemble, and what we might be able to do together in order to protect the vitality of this powerful economic engine for the County. Perhaps most important, we also identified additional allies that we could enlist in this effort.

The folks from Rice County clearly understood the issue and showed great creativity in moving to address it. We thank them for driving up from “down south” and look forward to working with them further on this important matter.

The Second Annual Taste of Northfield, that is…

I was so busy and there were so many people and there was so much going on that I didn’t have time to take many pictures, much less try to quantify the results.

When Dan Bergeson, Dale Finger, Joe Grundhoefer and I “debriefed”, a little after ten o’clock last night, it seemed like, based on vender sales, we had about three times as many people as last year, and that wasn’t including the girls scouts.

While the papers scream out about a town allegedly sinking under chemical and political chaos, the citizens and the merchants of Northfield steadily move forward…

…and occasionally have a heck of time together.

Others will probably comment more thoroughly and cleverly than me about the event, so I’ll just thank those who made it possible.

In addition to our Corporate Partners, College City Beverage and Malt-O-Meal, over sixty businesses contributed to the event. Then there were the approximately one hundred volunteers, who did everything from pick up trash to organize the silent auction. Although the NDDC provided the brains, 1st National Bank and The Key provided the brawn.

After the party is over, there is the clean-up. Here are Kellen Kirchberg of the Key (you can barely see the top of his head), Rick Estenson of the 1st National Bank (you could hardly see the sun around his big back), Dave Shumway of the 1st National Bank (all that shoveling and sweeping paid off last night), and Eric Emmons of The Key (cautioning Rick about not hurting himself), loading the picnic tables on a trailer for their return to the City Shop.

To everyone that supported the event, “Thanks, we needed that…”.

I suppose that I shouldn’t have been surprised to learn that they have some philosophical underpinnings to their quixotic quest. I expected their expressed desire to interact with the communities along the river, sharing art and absorbing culture. What really caught my attention was their concept of Pirate Utopias or, more specifically, Temporary Autonomous Zones (TAZ).

Now, I don’t think my interest is due solely to the time I spent at the New Riverside Cafe. Strangely or logically, it reminded me of the discussion of the proposed outside dining ordinances at yesterday’s Block Head Gathering. There were concerns expressed that in trying to permit outside dining, we were placing new restrictions on book sellers. I imagined a temporary autonomous zone where folks were allowed to serve sandwiches at tables on the sidewalks for the few months of the year that such activity was possible in Minnesota.

Then I thought, why just temporarily autonomous? Perhaps if we established a Special Services District (or a Downtown Management District as it’s affectionately know at the NDDC’s E. R. Team ) where the downtown building and business owners had a little more leeway to shape their environment, physically and conceptually, we might have the freedom to pursue activities that might stimulate economic activity all year long. It would assume that the business owners would maintain pedestrian access on the sidewalks, as well as a few other standards of civilized society. Call me an anarchist, but I believe that this would be a safe assumption.

These zones of at least partial or temporary autonomy are certainly interesting to consider. By the way, back to the Miss Rockaway Armada, in addition to the coverage in the Star Tribune, there’s kind of a cool article in the Village Voice too.

I wonder when they’ll reach Winona?

Encouraged by Northfield’s Public Works Director Heidi Hamilton’s offer to take the NDDC’s recommendations for signage to MNDOT, NDDC Community Advisor Victor Summa and Executive Director Ross Currier spent Saturday morning driving around in the rain, visualizing a visitor coming to Northfield, confronting the highway work and still figuring out how to buy a hamburger from the Quarterback Club.

Our innovative thinking included putting signs warning about the construction zone a quarter of a mile before the “road closed” signs are located to clue people in to the upcoming detour signs, suggesting that the detour signs be City of Northfield signs instead of the ubiquitous orange construction signs to make them more distinctive, and giving more detailed information on access to businesses than is typical. Here’s Victor outlining the concept to the rest of the E. R. Team.

We’ll follow up with Heidi on the success of her efforts with MNDOT. Then we’ll move onto the Library Plaza construction work planned for later this summer.

If you have some thoughts, please let us know.

Northfield apparently adopted Chapter 1306 in October of 2003, with no public discussion. The city also chose to include the Subparagraph 2 on New and Existing Buildings, which many architects, building owners, and contractors have told me is financially prohibitive for historic structures.

The problem with it appears to be that trying to reto-fit a sprinkler system into these projects can be aesthetically damaging and economically devastating for hundred year-old buildings.

In a rather unusual twist, the end of the chapter of Chapter 1306 requires that a municipality submit a copy of the ordinance adopting MSBC 1306 to the state within 15 days of adoption. Although Northfield apparently adopted 1306 in October of 2003, they did not submit the materials to the state until August of 2004.

A number of municipalities that adopted 1306 have “unadopted” it, including Hastings. Apparently the complete lack of flexibility of the requirements have proved unworkable in the city’s historic downtown.

The Northfield City Council will be discussing Chapter 1306 at Monday night’s meeting. Business and building owners, as well as architects and contractors, are urged to attend.