Colfax Village Board approves changing street names
By LeAnn R. Ralph
COLFAX — The Colfax Village Board has agreed to rename two of the Park Drives in Colfax.
The Colfax Plan Commission is recommending that the small section of street by the Cedar Country Cooperative Car Wash be named Short Street, said Scott Gunnufson at the Colfax Village Board’s November 12 meeting.
Village Trustee Annie Schieber wondered if the name “Short Street” would be appropriate if the street were ever extended.
Several village board members pointed out that there is not much room to extend the street.
Another consideration was to extend Bremer Avenue, but Bremer, located across state Highway 40, does not line up, Gunnufson said, noting the car wash would be the only business that would be affected and would have to change the address.
The second Park Drive that must be renamed is by the fairgrounds, Gunnufson said.
Plan commission members had questioned whether the existing street known as Park Drive only went as far as the end of the pavement or whether the street officially circled the fairgrounds to come back out on Railroad Avenue.
A search on the Internet using Map Quest indicates that the road around the fairgrounds does have a name, Schieber said.
The name that comes up on Yahoo Maps, Map Quest and Google Maps is S.A.F. Park Drive.
S.A.F. stands for the Scandinavian American Fraternity.
The brass plate on the stone pillar at the entrance to the fairgrounds indicates that the park was donated in 1924 by S.A.F. Lodge No. 50.
Articles originally published in the Colfax Messenger say that the fairgrounds originally was known as the I.S.W.A. Park, which stands for the Independent Scandinavian Workingmen’s Association.
The I.S.W.A. Park was dedicated about ten years earlier with a big celebration that included 300 people traveling by train from Eau Claire to Colfax.
Gunnufson asked if the village board wanted to rename the entire drive around the fairgrounds to the name recommended by the plan commission of Fairview Circle.
The plan commission recommended renaming Park Drive as Fairview Drive, to the point where the pavement ends, he said.
Village Trustee Mike Buchner, who lives on Park Drive, said he had walked around the road surrounding the fairgrounds, and that if it were going to be considered as a street, it would need certain setbacks.
People who live on Park Drive by the fairgrounds want it to remain as Park Drive, but renaming the street will affect fewer homes than renaming the Park Drive south of the railroad tracks that includes the City View Villa Court and the new Colfax Health and Rehabilitation Center, Buchner said.
The Colfax Village Board unanimously approved renaming the street by the car wash Short Street and the Park Drive by the fairgrounds Fairview Drive.
Other business
In other business, the Colfax Village Board:
• Approved a contract with Weber Inspections (Fred Weber) for January 1, 2014, through December 31, 2014. Weber will collect all permit fees from the homeowner or the contractor and there will be no cost to the village.
• Approved a bartender operator’s license for Jeffrey Peterson.