conclusions

Conclusions

The collection and evaluation of information on commercial development in Northfield from the 1970's to 1990's, as well as the role of the Northfield News in the three case studies, suggests several conclusions:

The pace of commercial development has increased in Northfield. Since the first strip developments outside of the business district in the 1970's, commercial development proposals have been steadily increasing in number and complexity. The 1999 approval of the planned development zone, which permits big-box development along Highway 3, has catalyzed especially rapid development on the south side of Northfield. In addition to the Target store, the area has also gained a large discount grocery store, chain restaurants, a large discount chain hardware store, and several smaller strip developments.

Public interest in Northfield's commercial development issues has increased. The contrast between the low public response to the Southgate development in 1974-75 and the highly debated Target development in 1998-1999 demonstrates a high level of public concern about the possible benefits and consequences of such large-scale development.

The Northfield News has become more thorough in its coverage of commercial development issues. While having provided fairly detailed information throughout the entire period studied, the Northfield News has provided the most detailed and abundant commercial development information during the most recent years. This suggests that, in general, local journalism plays a vital role in community information through news coverage of public hearings, council meetings, and decision-making processes as well as through the opinions pages.

The Northfield community has increased its use of the Northfield News as a means of expressing opinions.This suggests that the Northfield News is indeed an effective forum for dialogue, in that if the public were to see few benefits in contributing to opinions pages, participation numbers would have fallen over the study period. Again, a comparison between the Southgate case study and the big-box development case study shows a leap in public participation via letters to the editor and opinion pieces.

Prevalent opinions in the news do not always reflect general public sentiment. Whereas the prevailing opinions in the Northfield News were generally opposed to commercial development, public votes did not always reflect this. The 1999 referendum ended favorably for developers, though this would not have been expected by someone gauging public opinion based solely upon local news evaluation.

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