New Thoughts: Email Number Two

This is a copy of the second email I sent to those 100 friends and family members who hopefully passed it on to others.

Thanks everyone for taking the time to read these emails. I'm so proud to live here! I spent an hour talking with a good friend of mine, Dan Riggins, who is a downtown Northfield business owner. About seven years ago land in on the outskirts of Northfield was rezoned as C1 and there were a lot of people concerned with how that would change downtown Northfield's unique charm. The people concerned started writing letters to newspapers, to the city council, etc... These people came together and started asking a lot of questions and were able to slow down the process long enough to have a dialogue. Which, I guess is my biggest desire, that this is not passed without a dialogue.

Because this area is already zoned commercially, we can't take the route to petition the zoning and slow down the project this way. However, there are some issues I think that could be valid and taken into strong consideration by the city council.

They are:
1. Supporting a distinctive Annandale community that differs from Albertville, Wilmar, St. Cloud, the list goes on and on that invites people to move and vacation here. Local quality, local control, and historic uniqueness. Example of this idea being important-the historic old library and the beautiful gallery and what it has added to our community. People come here to see it. They are not going to come to Annandale for a Wendy's or white tube socks, after passing 101 Wendy's to get here.

2. Tax Increment Financing. Is the developer of this project Steve Iverson of Paces being offered this type of deal? Some developers will have the city make this sort of deal promising an increase in the tax base, without actually paying taxes for 20 years. Some of these buildings aren't even being built to last 20 years. Is the city of Annandale really going to see this money? What if ALCO leaves? One was just closed last year in Nebraska. If ALCO does leave how does this community sustain a 25,000 plus square foot empty building?

3. Waste Water Impact. What kind of environment (run off, sewer) impact will this new development have on our community? You may or may not be aware of the litigation and appeals our city has made because of a proposed waste facility that would dump into the North Fork of the Crow River, violating the federal Clean Water Act. I don't believe this issue has been resolved.

Well, here's a start. Again I thank you and appreciate you and that you value and love our community. I will be sending an email to the Star Tribune today on this issue, as well as some television news stations. This is more than just an Annandale problem, unfortunately. I encourage you to pass this email along to others and to also write letters to the city, papers, etc... Let's get this dialogue going.

Annandale, a Great Community!

My best,
Amy Sparks