Jefferson Road Assessment Update; Northfield Council Puts Hold on 'Adult-Use Ordinance'

The debate on how much Northfield residents should pay to repair city streets when heavy commercial traffic wears them down did not end at Tuesday night’s city council meeting, but the issue that prompted it did, as councilors voted to approve a bid and assessments for restoration of a .

The project will tear up and remix the upper layers of the road (between Jefferson Parkway and Hidden Valley Road) before repaving it. Its need for repair was universally held, but paying for the repairs became a source of controversy earlier in the summer after many residents living along it protested that their share—not to mention traffic on the street—was too much.

“The road was not built for the load required on a daily basis,” said Arlene Kluver, who has lived on the collector street for more than 30 years. She said the $119,000 share of the $402,000 cost was too much for its seniors, many of whom live on fixed incomes; and that Northfield should do more to lower the cost.

Councilors Betsey Buckheit and Suzie Nakasian agreed, voting against the assessment. Buckheit also said the city does not tell residents about new projects far enough in advance for them to budget for or influence their share of the road.

But the majority of councilors held that lowering the assessments by one-fifth, which councilors approved in June after residents complained, was enough.

“We do have an obligation to share that burden,” said Councilor Patrick Ganey. 

Construction on the road could begin mid-fall. Councilor Erica Zweifel was absent from Tuesday night’s meeting.

Adult-use ordinance pushed back

After disagreeing over its importance in the city’s workload, a draft ordinance which would regulate the zoning and hours of adult businesses like strip clubs and erotic bookstores was postponed by councilors until they discuss their 2012 work plan.

Councilors also disagreed more obscurely on whether regulating adult businesses should be the city’s business in any case. Ganey said with a state statute governing obscenity, moving hastily on the regulation was concerning given the importance of “this extremely important First Amendment issue.”

Councilor Rhonda Pownell, who is leading the effort to approve the ordinance, said adopting a regulation was not political but a matter of protecting residents.

Ganey and Pownell dissented in a 4-2 vote that was intended as a compromise between the Ganey’s proposal to scrap the ordinance altogether and Pownell’s plan to have it in place in October.