May 5th, 2008 by Amy
Hello Neighbors,
I’m Amy Wilcox. I’m an old Permaculturist and a new CSL board member. Please check out the new Permaculture page tab to find out more about the subject. If you have any questions to ask or ideas to share, please post them to our new bulletin board
May 4th, 2008 by Scott
Despite very wet conditions up until the workday, and a start at noon instead of 9am, the Greenvale Park Community Garden Workday was a success.
On Saturday, May 3, gardeners put up new fencing for the expansion of the garden, marked off plot boundaries, and began to ready the garden for the 2008 growing season. With the unexpected wet conditions, the tilling has been postponed, so some gardeners may need to plant later than expected.
Many thanks to all who helped on May 3rd!!
For more photos see the Community Gardeners Flickr Photoset!
May 2nd, 2008 by Scott
A proposal to make about half of Lashbrook Park into an archery range is now before the Northfield Park and Recreation Advisory Board. The proposal was made by the Cannon Valley Sportsmen’s Club on September 11, 2007, and is almost ready for final action.
Lashbrook Park, the natural area on the Cedar-Greenvale corner, was once a corn field. When Mary Ann Larson wanted to sell it in 1987, she told the Northfield City Council, and a developer proposed 98 apartments. Residents rose up in great opposition, and the proposal was altered to 50 condos.
Residents still objected, and proposed a park instead. Through a state grant of $75,000, a contribution of $25,000 from Saint Olaf College, $25,000 from neighbors in the area, and $25,000 from the City of Northfield, a “passive park” of 11 acres was eventually created from this land.
Now, the Cannon Valley Sportsmen’s Club proposes to take almost half of the land for an archery range.
In the original Master Plan for Lashbrook Park, written in 1994, the park was to be “openly programmed, ecologically-and-functionally-based public open space.” More of the Master Plan follows that:
It is an important pice of the connected elements of the city and the colleges’ wealth of open lands…Its design as a pastoral clearing recalls, subliminally, the use of the site by the previous owners, Albert and Edna Lashbrook, who raised prize Holsteins here.
From conversations with Northfield resident, Gloria Kiester, she notes that “The Lashbrooks were the COWS in our town motto of Cows, Colleges, and Contentment.”
The Center for Sustainable Living is dedicated to the preservation of our agricultural and natural lands. Lashbrook Park is a treasure which harkens back to Northfield’s historic roots. It should be preserved as a passive park of trees, grasslands, wildflowers, and sustained trails - for all to enjoy.
If you agree that the park should remain open to all people in all seasons, we urge you to contact the members of the Park Board to voice your concerns. As well, you can attend the next meeting of the Park Board to speak, or simply show your support. Bring documents, memories, stories, and thoughts that will help establish Lashbrook Park as an open space to be enjoyed by all people in all seasons.
The Park board will meet:
7pm, Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Northfield Community Resource Center, Room 105
1651 Jefferson Drive
Northfield, MN
April 30th, 2008 by aidan
Come enjoy the the 2008 Green Living Expo this weekend, May 3-4, at the Minnesota State Fair Grounds from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. I was only able to attend the final hours of last years Expo, but I won’t make this same mistake this year.
This is the largest annual environmental event in Minnesota, offering all kinds of workshops and featuring hundreds of green exhibitors to give you the ideas and materials for making your life more healthy and sustainable. Entrance is Free as are the workshops which run all day on Saturday and Sunday.
So grap some friends and carpool up to the Expo!
April 25th, 2008 by aidan
Meeting: 7:00pm; Tuesday, April 29, 2008; City Hall-Council Chambers
On Earth Day, April 22nd, the Northfield Planning Commission discussed a proposal from the Economic Development Authority to annex 530 acres of prime farmland west of the Municipal Hospital to make room for a future business park. While it should come as no surprise that Northfield is looking to grow, the scale and rapid push for annexation are unsettling.
In all likelihood, this land will not be developed for another five to ten years, so rushing to a decision may endanger Northfield’s wish to become a healthy sustainable community. So far, the Economic Development Authority has attempted to anticipate the economic cost and benefit of the annexation in the Financial Impact Analysis. Unfortunately the city has not considered the environmental and aesthetic impacts of the project. Furthermore, their economic analysis is suspect for leaving out a number of likely expenses.
Though the business park will increase tax revenue, the new businesses will also attract new community members. Increasing population invariably translates into a greater burden on public services, demanding more schools, more electricity, more police, more waste treatment, more water, more health care, more road maintenance, etc. While the Financial Impact Analysis offers some possible numbers on utility and road costs, along with estimates of potential tax income, it fails to mention the broader economic impacts on the community. If we are to seriously consider becoming a sustainable community, economically or environmentally, these externalized costs must be considered.
At the same time, we are missing a discussion of what Northfield stands to lose in the annexation, namely productive farmland and open space. When citizens met last summer to discuss their wishes for Northfield’s new comprehensive plan, they expressed a great interest in maintaining the City’s rural character and open space. Moreover, the City Council approved a set of Development Principles which set a priority for development, favoring both infill and redevelopment of sites currently within city limits above outward expansion.
Consequently, the City of Northfield has a lot of questions to answer before they can move forward and approve the Annexation. For instance, why has this site west of the hospital been prioritized? How is it more economically viable than infill and redevelopment? What are the other potential sites and why have they not been considered? What are the environmental impacts of annexation? How will the city undertake the annexation and meet its other goals of increasing green space, increasing low-income housing, making the community more walkable, connecting Ceder Avenue with Highway 19, and keeping productive farmland in production? Yet, before these questions can be answered, they need to be asked.
Please find time to make it to the Annexation Public Hearing on Tuesday April 29th. The planning commission will be meeting in the City Hall Chambers at 7:00pm.
Resources:
April 6th, 2008 by Scott
Greenvale Park Community garden for 2008 is full, with a waiting list! If you are interested in gardening with us in the future, you are encouraged to fill out an application and send it in (instructions on application, which you can download from this website.) Having applications from interested gardeners will help us know how many potential gardeners are out there, so we can plan for expansion at Greenvale Park and at other Northfield locations in the future. If you are interested in helping us identify other good community gardening sites around town, please contact us at northfieldcommunitygardeners@hotmail.com. As interest in local food and sustainable living grows, we expect there will be more and more people interested in community gardening! We’d love to have more energetic folks to help work on expansion of opportunities in Northfield.
Upcoming Events for Greenvale Park Community Gardeners:
Gardener Gatherings
Tuesday April 15 or Wednesday April 16, 2008
6:30 – 8 pm at Greenvale Park School Cafeteria
This is our chance to meet fellow gardeners, learn about how the community garden works, sign up for your volunteer work teams, learn where your plot will be, and have a little fun too. We have some great heirloom seeds donated to us by Seed Savers Exchange, and these will be available at the meeting. 2008 community gardeners should attend one meeting or the other . . . whichever is more convenient.
Spring Work Day
Saturday, May 3 (rain alternate, Sunday May 4)
9 am – 3 pm (or till finished) at the garden site at Greenvale Park Elementary
We’ll need everyone’s help to edge the garden, put up the new fencing, mark plots, hang gates, mark communal tools, and a few other things. Come whenever you can for as long as you can. Bring work gloves if you have them. Also if you have a flat shovel you can lend for the day, bring that too.
January 31st, 2008 by Scott
The Center for Sustainable Living will be holding its Annual Meeting on Saturday, March 22, from 2pm - 3:30pm at the Northfield Public Library. Come join us in the Community Room as we recap 2007, choose new board members, and set intentions for 2008!
We will be looking to fill vacancies on our board, and possibly add board members as well! If you are interested in learning about the CSL, volunteering on our board, or have items of interest that we should hear, please come! This event is free and open to the public!
To read about our accomplishments for 2007, read on for our 2007 Report Narrative.
Continue Reading »
January 25th, 2008 by Scott
We received a comment from our last posting, that we thought would merit its own blog entry. It seems that more agricultural land, this time adjacent to Big Woods State Park, is going before the Rice County Commission for possible re-zoning - to allow Hollywood Pyrotechnics to use the land for fireworks testing, manufacture, and storage. I have left a message with the Rice County Administration office to verify this information and to get more details, but have not heard back. I will update information in comments once known. Agenda items have not been posted to their web site for February as of yet.
In the meantime, here is the comment we received from Chris Sullivan. As always, we welcome your comments, letters, and calls to action, as The Center for Sustainable Living is a committed, grass-roots organization, dedicated to preserving our natural environment. Continue Reading »
January 21st, 2008 by Scott
Last April, The Center for Sustainable Living organized discussions and met with city consultants regarding the revision of the Northfield Comprehensive Plan. Citizens voiced their opinions at a town meeting to speak about land use and development. The Center for Sustainable Living has always been an advocate for the preservation of natural and agricultural landscapes, not merely for “aesthetic” qualities, but as a viable economic, educational, and environmental community resource.
On February 4th, the Northfield City Council will vote regarding the request by Johnson Reiland Homes to annex 55 acres of agricultural land on Wallstreet Rd. While the Northfield Planning Commission unanimously recommended against the request, the council still must vote on the proposal (and is free to decide in agreement or disagreement with the planning commission). Northfield resident, Dorothea Hrossowyc, whose farm rests adjacent to the requested land, has a call to citizens to appeal to their local city council representative.
Below is a letter from Dorothea summarizing the issue, and her request for citizen involvement.
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January 19th, 2008 by Scott
Phew, it’s cold and wintry outside . . . the perfect time to start planning your summer garden! On February 1, the Northfield Community Gardeners will start accepting applications for participation in the 2008 Greenvale Park Community Garden! The garden is located just west of Greenvale Park Elementary School, on Lincoln Street.
Applications are available for downloading now (see the sidebar for both english and spanish versions)!
Read on for more information on the Greenvale Park Community Garden!
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