May 1 is the next deadline for the Concerned Citizens for the Hormel Nature Center.

Tuesday, April 25, 2000

May 1 is the next deadline for the Concerned Citizens for the Hormel Nature Center. That’s the date of the Austin City Council’s public hearing on the annexation by ordinance of the 55 acres of farmland west of the J.C. Hormel Nature Center.

The Concerned Citizens intends to turn up in force for the meeting.

"We hope as many citizens from the community will attend," Dr. Mark Reeves, a spokesman for the group, said. "It’s a very important vote as far as protecting and expanding the nature center."

The property to be annexed is owned by farmer David Morse, but Greater Minnesota Affordable Housing has an option to buy the land. Greater Minnesota President Rick Kahn and Vice President David Wellstone would like to put between 120 and 130 homes on the property. The developers have stated their willingness to work with the city to make the development a good neighbor to the nature center.

The Concerned Citizens group initially formed out of a concern that the housing would have a detrimental effect on the nature center. Now the group is focusing more on purchasing the land surrounding the nature center in order to expand the center and to prevent further residential and commercial development.

In round one of the annexation battle, a joint resolution of ordinance between Austin and Lansing Township was voted down by Lansing, giving the Concerned Citizens the advantage and forcing the developers and land owner to try the second option, an annexation by ordinance.

It appears the Concerned Citizens already may count two City Council members as supporters in their efforts to prevent the development; at Monday’s council meeting, both Roger Boughton and Dick Lang voted against setting the public hearing.

"I think there should be a lot more discussion before any decisions are made," Boughton said after the meeting. Lang’s only comment in voting against the hearing was that he was "an environmentalist."

Should the annexation by ordinance be approved by the council, the Concerned Citizens discussed initiative and referendum options at their Thursday night meeting.

Two members of the recently appointed Nature Center Task Force attended the Thursday meeting to ask for the group’s input. The task force is working on recommendations – such as a buffer zone on the east side of the property – to be included in the development agreement in case the annexation does go through.

The Concerned Citizens have no direct representative on the task force, despite the fact that it was two members of the group who first went to the council with a request to consider grant applications to expand the center. Dick Dixon, a Friends of the Nature Center Board member who also is a Concerned Citizens member, is the group’s only representation on the task force.

Because of the May 1 deadline, the Concerned Citizens are meeting again at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in the Ruby Rupner auditorium at the nature center, to finalize suggestions they want to send to the Nature Center Task Force. The task force meets the next day, Friday, in an open meeting at the Ruby Rupner auditorium at 5:15 p.m.

Reeve said the group still is discussing a fund-raising arrangement with the Isaac Walton League, but that the details have yet to be finalized. Until that happens, the group won’t kick off any major fund-raising efforts. Donations are being accepted, however.