ATV crash injures 2
At about 6:30 last night, Rice County Deputies, Northfield Fire and Rescue Services and Northfield EMS responded to 14000 block of Cabot Ave for a personal injury ATV crash. Two juvenile males were riding on an ATV adjacent to an ATV park. They hit a cable that was hanging across their path at the edge of the park, crashing onto Cabot Avenue. The rear passenger, 16 year old Radu Capmari of Bloomington suffered minor injuries; he was transported to Northfield Hospital by private vehicle. The driver, 16 year old Alex Nikitin of Shakopee, was thrown from the ATV and suffered a head injury; he was transported by ambulance to Northfield Hospital. The Rice County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the incident.
Charter Commission works to engage Council
The Charter Commission has been discussing ways to engage the Council better. What renewed Charter action was the recent zoning ordinance change the Council approved on a simple majority vote, which is okay by the State but not our City Charter which also requires the Council to give the Planning Commission a written explanation of why they didn’t accept their suggestion to the ordinance. Further, the Charter requires a supermajority vote. Councilor Ludescher who has been a Charter Commission member since before his term as Councilor said, they unanimously passed a motion to abide by the Charter and that the Charter and State are not in conflict with each other as the State provides non-binding language that says even if they were in conflict, the Charter would have control over the less restrictive State law. Regarding the specific ordinance that launched the debate, Mayor Graham said he would not sign the ordinance. Without his signature, Ludescher says, it can’t become an ordinance. Ludescher believes that City staff is operating as though it passed. Administrator Haggenmiller attended the meeting and asked where the Charter wants to go from here. Ludescher suggested a compromise where the Council returns to the specific ordinance subject, revotes with a supermajority and then promises to abide by future Charter opinions. Chair Tim Clack said they will implement a process to share their thoughts with Council, Boards and Commissions via a formatted opinion document.
EDA approves hotel market study
City staff has been working with potential developer, Brett Reese of Rebound Enterprises, regarding the remaining vacant lots in the TIF district including Lot 6 of The Crossing at Hwy 3 and 2nd street. Community Development Director Chris Heineman said, while there’s a general feeling that the market is ripe for it, “in order to move a project forward and have loan financing structured, a detailed market study is necessary”. Ludescher questioned why Rebound Enterprises didn’t pay for the study. Heineman said in part, that the study is site specific not developer specific. The information would be available for any developer to use. Heineman said this is a key piece of the EDA work plan. Eventually the EDA voted 5 to 1 to approve $7,000 to Hospitality Consulting Group. Included in the study will be evaluating the market and identifying the service level, appropriate size, quality and needed amenities. The EDA meeting is posted on the City’s website.
DeLong questions why City estimates are off
Councilor DeLong commented this week on the single bid the City received for the Hwy 3 and 3rd street project. The original estimate was $400,000, the single bid came in last week at $681,000. DeLong’s question was “why is our estimating so off all the time? We’ve had a lot of bids that have come in high. It’s not in the regular street projects but others”. He says they need to work on that. He added that the timing of this bid was off too because construction companies are busy and they don’t need the hassle of working with numerous subcontractors, which would be the case in this project. This is on next Tuesday’s agenda for Council to reject the bid.
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The post Today’s news update – ATV crash injures 2; Charter Commission works to engage Council; EDA approves hotel market study; DeLong questions why City estimates are off appeared first on KYMN Radio - Northfield, MN.