Planning Commission Meeting Date: November 19, 2026
To: Members of the Planning Commission
From: Mikayla Schmidt, AICP, City Planner
Ben Martig, City Administrator
James McDermott, Water Quality Technician
David Bennett, City Engineer/Public Works Director
Title
Consider a Planning Commission Resolution Affirming that the Option/Acquisition Agreement of Property with Post Consumer Brands, LLC for the Ames Mill Dam is in compliance with the Northfield 2045 Comprehensive Plan.
Body
Action Requested:
The Planning Commission approves the resolution affirming that the Option/Acquisition Agreement of Property with Post Consumer Brands, LLC for the Ames Mill Dam is in compliance with the Comprehensive Plan.
Summary Report:
The City Council discussed the proposed agreement with Post Consumer Brands, the dam’s owner, on November 10. Consideration of action on the agreement and initial engineering work will go before Council in December.
The option agreement with Post Consumers Brands, will lay the foundation for transferring the ownership of Ames Mill Dam to the City for its ultimate removal from the Cannon River. The City is proposing to replace the dam with long rock rapid. The Planning Commission is requested to consider if the proposed option agreement for the removal of Ames Mill Dam is in alignment with the Comprehensive Plan.
The proposed agreement would establish an option for future City ownership. Approving it would not transfer the dam to Northfield. Instead, it would establish terms for investigation, cost sharing and a possible later acquisition.
Removing and replacing the Ames Mill Dam is an adopted Council strategic priority. This planned next phase would provide the information needed to evaluate environmental risks, costs and ownership responsibilities before proceeding.
Post Consumer Brands owns the Ames Mill Dam. The aging structure no longer serves its original milling purpose. The first dam dates to 1855, the year Northfield was founded. The existing concrete dam was constructed in 1919. According to the accompanying project presentation, a 1997 inspection recommended studying potential removal. Malt-O-Meal explored a replacement option in 2007, but cost and limited funding for privately owned dams prevented the project from advancing.
On November 21, 2023, the City Council adopted the Ames Mill Dam Feasibility Study Recommendation Option 3 - Long Rock Rapids, and authorized staff to explore phase 2 - ownership transfer from Post Holding Inc. to the City of Northfield and exploration of funding.
The dam and mill setting are familiar parts of downtown. Residents may have concerns about changes to the river’s appearance, sound, water levels, and historic character. Further design and applicable historic review are required and will include public input and local Heritage Preservation Commission review. This process will provide an opportunity to address those concerns and explore ways to recognize the site’s milling history.
The long rock rapids concept would replace the dam’s abrupt drop with a more gradual series of rock features intended to allow fish passage and improve river safety. Final engineering would determine the configuration, water levels, river appearance, and recreational conditions. The feasibility concept provides a direction for further study rather than a completed construction design.
Planning Commission Finding
1. Access to the river is a key strategy along the riverfront, a well-connected recreation destination featuring opportunities for land and water-related active transportation, featuring a reconstructed Ames Mill Dam and rock rapids that reinforces the health, continuity, and variety of the Cannon River State Water Trail and four enhanced, interconnected parks along a riverwalk loop that offer new recreation and relaxation opportunities, restore the ecological health of the river, and fill in missing sidewalk and trail segments.
2. Prioritize and pursue funding to replace the Ames Mill Dam with a high-quality recreation and river-ecological health solution.
3. A key piece of the Riverfront Enhancement Action Plan is planning for the removal of the Ames Mill Dam built in 1918. Removing the dam could play a critical role in reversing some of the environmental degradation along the river and enabling a greater range of recreational uses. In 2024, the Northfield City Council recommended an option which would replace the dam with extended rapids.
4. The proposed option/purchase agreement continues efforts to remove the Ames Mill Dam, improve Cannon River water quality, and expand recreational use of the river for community and economic development benefits.
EQC Meeting October 21, 2026
Northfield Water Quality Technician James McDermott and Jennifer Tonko, Executive Director of Clean River Partners, presented an update on the Ames Mill Dam removal plan timeline and next steps. Sara Pabich, city of Northfield Sustainability Coordinator and McDermott responded to questions and comments from the EQC, and Pabich requested the EQC to vote on a motion of support for the plan.
Public input included one individual who emphasized the importance of working toward this plan in a timely fashion while funding is available and on the keen interest of college students in studying the aquatic life in the river.
A motion was made by Commissioner Podracky, seconded by Vice Chair Provancha, to approve the Motion of Support for Ames Mill Dam removal timeline and next steps. The motion carried unanimously.
Summary Background Information
The City has been working with Post Holdings Inc. on the ownership transfer agreement. This is a key step in the process that will allow the City to pursue grant funding to remove the dam and construct the Long Rock Rapids.
There are numerous reasons why this City Council has identified this as a strategic priority and how this option/ownership agreement with Post Holdings is an appropriate next step towards removal of the dam.
1. Limited Financial Risk for City of Northfield
a. The removal of the dam aligns well with numerous public funding opportunities from the various state programs.
b. Option agreement allows City to complete Phase I and Phase II Environmental analysis; this would allow the City not to exercise the option for owning the dam if there isn’t clear resolution on funding something identified in the environmental analysis.
c. Analyze impounded sediment upstream of dam. The City has experience with this as we have performed sediment sampling on a recent pond dredging project to classify soil sediments and compare it to MPCA Soil Reference Values (SRV). This will let us know how sediment can be reused, if SRV is level 3 the City will know it will need to be landfilled, similar to what we had to do with some of our pond sediment removal projects.
2. Public Safety
a. Low head dams are called drowning machines as the reverse current below the dam is a hazard to public safety. This poses a significant threat to canoes, kayaks, fishing, and other recreation.
b. Ames Mill Dam is classified as a Class II Significant Hazard Dam
i. Dam Failure would result in health hazards and probable loss of high-value property and infrastructure.
3. Ecological Benefits
a. Removal of the dam will aid in aquatic organism passage
b. This will increase river biology
c. Increase fish spawning habitat
d. Increase population of native mussel species
4. River Continuity
a. Removal of Ames Mill Dam will align with work upstream
b. Faribault is currently in preliminary design and exploring funding to remove the Woolen Mill Dam.
5. Alignment with City Plans
a. Removing the dam and activating the river was a key component in the Riverfront Enhancement Action Plan
b. Increasing tourism with river activity and removing the Dam safety hazard
c. Aligns with 2045 Comprehensive Plan
d. This is a key initiative in the 2025 Strategic Plan to remove Ames Mill Dam.
6. Historic Preservation
a. The City will be leading the Section 106 process and will work with the City’s Heritage Preservation Commission on how to recognize its history as a milling dam when it was in use and how it shaped the community.
As part of the ownership/transfer agreement Post and the City are proposing to each fund $250,000 of the next study/plan phase. This will allow for the preliminary design and environment work to continue and provide the City with more information to understand if the City wants to take ownership of the Dam. After this phase, Post is committing another $250,000 toward the next phase as the City takes ownership of the dam. While preliminary design is underway, and ownership transfer agreement is in place, the City will pursue grant and other funding options to continue to advance the project.
Staff have been coordinating the next phase of work with Barr Engineering and will bring forward a contract for services on November 17. This work will take 18-24 months and includes:
1. Phase 1 Environmental Assessment
2. Phase 2 Environmental Site Assessment
3. Geotechnical and Hydrogeologic Investigation
4. Environmental Review and EAW Preparation
5. Preliminary design for the long rock rapids river restoration.
Dam removal has precedents nationwide and here on the Cannon River. Welch’s dam was removed in 1994, Gorman Lake Dam removal is in process, and Faribault is moving into the design phase to replace its dams with rock arch rapids.
Post is an important employer and community partner. In response to the City’s goals for a safer, healthier river and improved recreation, Post is working with us on a potential ownership agreement and sharing study costs. This partnership allows the City to explore public priority and funding opportunities that would be limited under private ownership.
Alternative Options:
Staff is recommending moving forward with the agreement.
Financial Impacts:
The City storm water fund will fund the City share of the next phase of work along with the Post donation. See PowerPoint for more financial details.
Tentative Timelines:
Timeline attached in presentation.