Task force tackles land expansion for nature center
Published 12:00 am Wednesday, April 19, 2000
The recently formed Nature Center Task Force met Tuesday evening to begin long range planning for the popular J.
Wednesday, April 19, 2000
The recently formed Nature Center Task Force met Tuesday evening to begin long range planning for the popular J.C. Hormel Nature Center. It is a task that seems more urgent now that there is a proposal for a housing development across the street.
For a moment, it looked like their mission might be over before it ever began, when chairman Gary Quednow said they might as well not be there if no one supported the idea of expanding the nature center. Fairly quickly, however, it became evident that support for the expansion wasn’t a question. The question was only how much and what use there was for the land.
Everyone agreed that north was the logical direction in which to proceed for expansion, and a majority liked the idea of a link, or nature corridor, between the nature center and Todd Park.
While the dozen or so people there represented the city Park and Recreation Board, the Friends of the Nature Center Board and the Austin City Council, there was no one there who exclusively represented the citizen-driven group, Concerned Citizens for the Hormel Nature Center. That caused some confusion because no one could answer where the group wanted to direct its fund-raising efforts: to the north or to the west.
"My concern is that the integrity of the nature center might be threatened if there is development to the north," director-naturalist Larry Dolphin told the group. "I think that area should be the No. 1 priority."
When Park and Recreation Director Denny Maschka pressed Dolphin for an idea of how much land would be desired, he got an answer that ranged from at least 20 to 6,000 acres, depending upon the funding source. For now, the group seemed to settle on 55 acres as a number to explore.
"I don’t think 20 years from now we’ll be saying we made a mistake, we bought too much land," Friends Board President Dick Smaby said.
" … As to the question of whether the nature center is overused or underused, I ask ‘by whom?’ The people or the animals that live here? People are only temporary visitors here. Even if we expanded and the land was only grassland, it would still provide shelter … There is very little natural space in Mower County."
After going around the table, getting task force responses to the 12 questions Maschka had written up before the meeting, it was agreed that the group would pursue the idea of expansion to the north, first by contacting the land owner, and also prepare for the council an idea of what kind of buffer zone would be wanted between the proposed housing development and the nature center. The task force wants to have advice on the buffer zone in place before the May 1 council meeting, when a public hearing on the annexation by ordinance of the 55 acres west of the center is scheduled.
Dolphin also was going to look into what could be done about creating a corridor between the nature center and Todd Park.
After the meeting, both Dolphin and Maschka were pleased.
"It was a good meeting," Dolphin said. "It’s good to get the people together to discuss the future of the nature center. … And land acquisition is a good thing, at least in my opinion."
The task force will meet again at 5:15 p.m. April 28. In addition to Smaby and Quednow, members include Dick Dixon, Roger Boughton, Neil Fedson, Joanne Gellerman, Darlene Thaisen, Richard Nordin, Merlene Stiles, Dave Ruzek and Jeanne Sheehan.