Northfield Downtown Development Corporation

Suzannah Ciernia, a member of both the 1997 and 2005 Northfield Citizen Task Forces on Highway 3 wrote me an e-mail recently that I thought brought up some excellent points. With her permission, I’ve reprinted it here in the NDDC Blog.

Hi Ross,

While serving on the Ad Hoc Committee, I recall the traffic counts we looked at for the Third Street crossing of TH3 were surprisingly high and were close to the minimum required for a light. I remember hearing someone reference that the school buses on their way to Longfellow chose that crossing point in the morning in order to be on the right side of the street in front of the school. Dale Finger was on our committee and probably knows the intersection better than anybody.

Another compelling reason is the river crossing. There are only 3 bridges that cross east-west traffic over the river. Enhancing the use of the old “entry” into town would take the strain off of 2nd and 5th Street bridges. Good transportation plans encourage having alternate routes in place to more evenly distribute traffic flow.

2nd Street bridge is a workhorse, chosen by the majority of west side residents coming into downtown. It’s traffic load will only increase as the development goes in.

5th street bridge carries traffic coming from the south and west, and is already carrying a heavy load. The adjacent TH3 intersection is the only westward route for southside residents heading to 35W. This bottleneck is further exacerbated by the train schedule (which is predicted to increase) and now by Walgreen’s entrance/exit traffic, which further strains stacking capacity. (The entire area west of the 5th Street-TH3 intersection is poorly designed for traffic flow and safety and should be re-designed, but I digress)

A light at 3rd Street would give drivers another choice, and lighten the load at 2nd and 5th Street bridges. It would also enhance traffic calming, keep speeds legal, foster the feel of a city street, and could accommodate a beautiful safer pedestrian crossing location.

I spent two years meeting every month with MNDoT, 12 other citizens, and city staff, and we studied every inch of the .6 mile stretch of TH3. Two years!! Our conclusions were developed after much dialogue and were based on a hard-won consensus. This was no small feat. Our top priority was safety and for this reason, we all strongly advocated for a light at 3rd Street. (We also strongly advocated NO right turn lane at 2nd Street, however MNDoT pushed it through).

In every single public meeting, survey, interview, and there were many, people stressed safety over everything else. I can’t think of any more compelling reason to install a light there.

Never doubt…

Suzannah Ciernia

At the 9/22/05 Economic Development Authority (EDA) Meeting, City Staff announced that the public input on the Q Block (so named because of the Quaterback Club and Quizno’s on the site) redevelopment project would occur after the Consultants and City Staff have defined the realm of possibilities as two options. The public would then be allowed to choose between the two options.

This is not unlike the 2004 Downtown Improvement Project, where Consultants and City Staff decided that what the downtown would get was crosswalk pavers. The public was then allowed to choose the color from a previously defined palette. It is also very much like the 2005 Downtown Improvement Project, where Consultants and City Staff decided that what the downtown would get was drinking fountains, planters, and benches. The Citizen Task Force was then allowed to choose between the two benches that City Staff had previously selected. (…by the way, where are those benches and planters?)

Also of interest at the EDA meeting was City Staff’s comments about Safe Crossing of Highway 3 at West 3rd Street. EDA President Paul Smith raised the point that for years he has been hearing citizen concerns about creating a safer crossing of Highway 3. City Staff acknowledged this concern but said that they didn’t want to raise citizen expectations. Staff offered “traffic-calming” measures like landscaping as an alternative to traffic signals.

The new five lane highway that is being constructed in the middle of our community is at least 100 feet across from curb to curb. If you’re in the middle of the street trying to pick your moment to run to the far curb, trees planted 50 feet away will have a limited effect on your safe crossing, at least in my opinion…but then, I’m not a traffic engineer.

There was much discussion at the meeting about how the Q Block is a highway property. In fact, the Q Block, defined by Linden Street on the west, 2nd Street on the north, Highway 3 (or John North Boulevard) on the east and 3rd Street on the south, is more of a westside property. Linden Street and Highway 3 are the short sides of that rectangle. 2nd and 3rd Streets, the potential pedestrian connections to the eastside, are much longer.

Rather than defining the development of the Q Block by one of its two shortest sides, a broader vision would be to connect the westside and eastside of our community while simultaneously increasing pedestrian safety in crossing the highway. It is a a vision that the NDDC has been advocating for since our start in 2000.

The public infrastructure required for development of the Q Block will be public expenditures. The public infrastructure will also largely determine the safety of crossing the highway. We hope that the citizens that support the vision of connecting our community will have more of an opportunity to express their opinions than choosing between predefined concept A and predefined concept B.

At Monday night’s Council Meeting, City Staff argued that if stop signs were installed on Division Street at 7th Street, they would have to eliminate the diagonal parking along the west side of Division on that block. Looking at other west sides of Division Street blocks, it’s hard to understand this argument.

At Division and 4th, there’s a stop sign with diagonal parking.

At Division and 5th, there’s a stop sign with diagonal parking.

At Division and 7th, there’s a place for a stop sign with diagonal parking.

Perhaps somebody out there in the blogosphere can help me understand this argument.

As for the NDDC, we’ve been working for these stop signs since April and, after six months of hard work, they were defeated on a 5 to 1 vote. We’re thinking that we’re going to give it a rest for a while and hope that maybe the folks living down at Village on the Cannon and walking up to Econofoods might pick up the ball and run with it for a few plays. We’d be happy to provide some blocking.

At a recent Block Head Gathering, a number of building and business owners talked about a couple of issues that were important for folks “south of 5th Street” on Division. These issues were making those blocks on the south end of 5th Division feel more like the north end of Division and slowing down the speed of vehicular traffic on that segment of Division.

As the discussion developed, it seemed that the two issues were related. Because folks driving cars tend to get up a good head of steam on the stretch between Woodley and 5th, it seemed designed more for vehicular traffic and less designed for pedestrian shopping. People seemed to think that a stop sign at 7th Street would be a good way to address both the speed and the feel along that stretch of Division.

Council Members Davis and Pokorney were in attendance at the Block Head Gathering. They both thought that it was a good idea. City Engineer Hamilton was also present. She thought that it was something that could be done. It seemed like a good idea that could be implemented quickly.

Weeks passed. We then heard that someone on City Staff thought it would be a better idea to put the sign at 6th Street. We thought about it a bit more and realized that soon hundreds of new residents would be coming up 7th Street to downtown from the Village on the Cannon. The 7th Street location seemed like an even better idea.

Friday afternoon, Roger DuFours Sr. called me at my office. He had heard that the City was putting in a stop sign at 6th Street. They also told him that he’d be losing parking spaces in front of his store for the stop sign. He had already spoken to me about the tight parking situation on that block. He doesn’t want to lose any spaces.

EconoFoods and Lansing’s both have parking lots. If it’s necessary to remove parking spaces for a stop sign, it would have a less of an impact at 7th Street.

Roger also pointed out that 1st National Bank’s drive-through facility is located at the corner of 6th Street. He suggested that if traffic was backed up at the stop sign, it would be difficult for folks to exit left out of the facility.

For pedestrian safety, economic vitality and parking preservation, the stop sign should go at the 7th Street intersection instead of 6th Street. We hope that Council Members Davis and Pokorney and Mayor Lansing will look into the matter. The folks south of 5th Street are counting on them.

The NDDC presented its report on Safe Crossing of Highway 3 to the City Council last night.

Mayor Lee Lansing had asked me, as Executive Director of the NDDC, to form an Ad Hoc Task Force to offer recommendations of ideas that could contribute to increased safety in crossing the highway.

The Task Force was made up of Suzannah Ciernia, owner of Life Skills Education, myself, Dale Finger, owner of the Quarterback Club, Amy Gage, St. Olaf College Director of Communications and NDDC Board Member, Leota Goodney, owner of Leota Goodney CPA, and Mark Quinnell, owner of the State Farm Agency.

The group looked at the March 10, 1997 Report of the Ad Hoc Highway #3 Design Committee and MNDOTs current construction plans. The Task Force then held one meeting and developed a list of 10 recommendations.

The recommendations are:

1. Rename the center section of Highway 3 to John North Boulevard.

2. Longer pedestrian crossing (walk) signals.

3. Rigorously enforce the 30 mph speed limit.

4. Add a traffic light at 3rd Street.

5. Install contrasting concrete aggregate at the intersections.

6. Install street lights that are similar height and design to the ones in downtown.

7. Add signs advising that pedestrians are crossing.

8. Add a traffic light at St. Olaf Avenue.

9. Create a gateway landmark at 3rd Street.

10.Eliminate the right turn lane at 2nd Street.
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