Northfield Commons Group Seeks Support for Greening Plan

Giving the north-south corridor that encompasses Hwy. 3, the railroad tracks and the Cannon River a green makeover will require collaboration from a large group of commercial, public and nonprofit interests.

But the 35-plus people who attended a meeting Monday about “” seemed willing to take the next steps to make that happen—or at least explore how it could happen.

“The greening of the commons is a concept plan, a big idea,” said Pat Allen of Northfield in Bloom, a four-year-old beautification group that helped organize the meeting.

The “big idea” is to create a “central park” with clusters of plantings, better lighting, pathways, vistas and other elements that give people moving through the area a sense of comfort and safety, said Dave Van Wylen, who represented the Northfield Roundtable, a volunteer group of civic and business leaders interested in urban planning for Northfield, which co-sponsored the meeting.

Following Monday’s comment session, leaders from a wide range of groups with interests along the commons will be asked to assess enthusiasm for the project within their organizations and determine how to go forward.

Groups to be involved include the city, Economic Development Authority, Northfield Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, the , Northfield Downtown Development Corp., Northfield Garden Club, Northfield in Bloom, Master Gardeners of Rice County, parks and trails advocates, Northfield Streetscape Task Force and the Save the Depot group among others.

Mayor: Business support needed

Getting support and buy-in from business owners along the commons is vital to any attempts to add trees, artwork or other amenities to the area, Mayor Mary Rossing said. Business owners need to be convinced that they will see a benefit from the project, such as slowing traffic or drawing more customers to Northfield," she said.

“The key is meeting with business owners individually,” Rossing said. “You need to front-load the conversation by getting business owners involved.

"It is essentially a commercial district,” she added, where owners are likely to be concerned about sign visibility and vehicle access. 

Other issues raised at the meeting include how to coordinate planning and implementation of additional greening efforts among the many stakeholders who have interest in the corridor, which was defined as running from just north of St. Olaf Avenue to at least Woodley Street. The corridor includes private, commercial property, such as hotels, restaurants and gas stations, as well as publicly owned land, such as and the .

In addition, a variety of projects are already under way or in the planning stages that might affect how the commons will look in the future, such as ongoing efforts of the city’s Streetscape Task Force and the move of the old to a new location two blocks to the north, where it could act as a transit hub.

Don’t plant, if you can’t maintain

Finding public or private funding for any projects along the highway is another concern, as is maintaining trees and other plantings that may be installed.

The Northfield Garden Club, for example, is in the preliminary stages of planning to plant additional trees along Hwy. 3 as part of a Minnesota Department of Transportation Landscaping Partnership Program. If implemented, the garden club would commit to caring for any plantings for two years.

“This might be a good pilot project to show MnDOT what we can do,” said Erica Tallman, a garden club officer.

Whatever is planted, the city or another group needs to be ready to water and care for it for years to come, said Judy Code, a member of , who also cares for many of the downtown plantings as a volunteer.

“If it cannot be sustained because you do not have the staff or equipment to water it, you should not plant it,” Code said.

Anyone interested in assisting with greening the commons is asked to email Pat Allen (patanddavidallen@gmail.com) or Dave Van Wylen (vanwylen@stolaf.edu).