Northfield to Turn 40 Acres Ceded by County into Parks and Trails

The southeast corner of Northfield will soon see 40 acres of foreclosed land turn into a park and trails.

Two plots of land, between Maple Street South and Hall Avenue near 110th Street, were tax forfeited to Rice County in 2011.

Now the county is turning over the land to Northfield under a state law that gives municipalities priority to develop forfeited property, the Northfield News is reporting.

“The county has held this land for about one and a half years,” county auditor/treasurer Fran Windschitl said during a Tuesday Rice County Board of Commissioners meeting, according to the paper. “They received numerous notifications, they had a lot of time to act but they didn’t.”

But turning the land, which is currently dominated by a giant dirt mound, into parks will be far from free. A county engineer estimated that just moving the dirt pile could cost as much as $280,000.

“We will address the dirt pile,” Northfield city administrator Tim Madigan said, according to the Northfield News. “Disturbing the pile at this point might actually do more harm than good because a lot of ground cover has grown up on it.”

Under the acquisition, Northfield has three years to decide what to do with the land.