Photo by Wanda Hanson
On December 3, over 40 city of Rushford citizens came to the R-P Forum Room to hear an update on the progress thus far on redeveloping the former Farmers Win Coop site in downtown Rushford and share their opinions about its future development.
Kristin Prososki from TAB (Technical Assistance to Brownfields) led the meeting and began by reviewing what has happened so far. The city of Rushford had purchased the 1.78 acre parcel with funding by a grant. Wanting to do the redevelopment right, Rushford used available resources to help engage the public in planning for redevelopment.
In the summer of 2024, a survey was conducted with over 500 responses regarding the parcel. The survey showed that the public did not want commercial development of the land because there were existing vacancies in buildings and businesses in town to be supported.
People also were against just turning the site into a park or parking lot.
After that survey, four possible scenarios were created and shared with the public. August 27 a public engagement session was held in the auditorium at R-P. A survey of attendees was held; the two scenarios least favored by the public had housing included. The high cost of building townhouses and the multi-story home layouts which would be inconvenient for elderly residents were factors in not proceeding with a plan for housing on that land.
In the August 27 survey, 179 comments were in favor of Event Space/ Green Space or Park; 67 comments favored housing, 59 favored commercial and 12 favored public service. With the guidance of that survey, Scenario 3 which included event space, green space and some of the current buildings on the site retained for use.
December 3 two possible concept drawings for that scenario were presented to the attendees at the meeting along with 3D renderings. Leigh Volkman, council, EDA member and mayor elect, addressed the gathering regarding funding of the project. Sharing a printed spreadsheet of expenses so far, Volkman informed the public that the EDA expense as of December 3 was $148,962. The EDA has $300,000 to fund clearing the site, creating a parking area, and taking care of utilities updates for the building. According to Volkman, the EDA is hoping to sell the former office building on the site for around $65,000 and use those proceeds to further fund the redevelopment.
Volkman assured the public that grants and possibly fundraising would be used for the rest of the development; a different group would be responsible for this and not city taxes. EDA funding is directly related to the project; it will get more people to come and stay in the city. Bringing people into the community will lead to them spending more money at the local businesses
Volkman explained that while housing was not being considered for the parcel, other options to bring much needed housing in Rushford are being explored. He emphasized that the city and EDA wanted to hear all opinions both pro and con.
Prososki then directed the attendees that they would be rotating through four stations set up in the room. One station showed the drawings of two concepts for the land as well as 3D renderings of the site; attendees were to place a sticker on their favorite.
A second station had two boards with visual representations of potential uses for the site. Each participant was asked to use the allotted eight dots to select the options they liked best.
At the third station participants were asked to use markers to write ideas for uses of the land in each season of the year. The fourth station asked people to write down the types of events they wanted to see at the site.
As citizens moved from one station to the next, EDA and council members mingled with them, explaining the proposed project.
Concept B garnered the most stickers; 26 people chose that concept over Concept A. A hand-written note on the Concept poster suggested that the trail should be curved on this concept as it was on the Concept A drawing. Most of the respondents agreed with this suggestion.
Visual representations that proved to be most popular were live music, a holiday market, a farmers’ market, fire pits, food trucks, gathering spaces and a multi-use path.
Seasonal suggestions were for Mother’s Day and Easter events and a tulip garden in the spring, music and art events in the summer, farmers’ market and a festival in the fall and ice skating and Christmas events in the winter.
Prososki declared, “No matter what the feedback, this will happen over time and grow and change as things evolve. The city will not be the one managing this land. It’ll be a new governing body.”
Staff from the University of Minnesota Extension will work with the EDA to look at different models of how this project can be run. The staff will lead about six leadership focused sessions. At the end of those sessions, the group of citizens involved will come up with how the governing of the site should be structured. Extension staff, Andi Sutton and Shahrin Upoma, asked that anyone whose interest was sparked in this speak with them.
Rushford residents now have the opportunity to volunteer to work on the project and help make decisions on how the site is developed. Reach out to the EDA and the city of Rushford if you want your voice heard!
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