A small herd of delegations descended on Wednesday evening’s Austin Parks and Recreation Board’s meeting.

Thursday, February 03, 2000

A small herd of delegations descended on Wednesday evening’s Austin Parks and Recreation Board’s meeting.

They came to express their concerns or hopes concerning tree-planting in Austin, ice rinks in the area and a planned housing development near the J.C. Hormel Nature Center.

Mike Ruzek of Spruce-Up Austin came to drop off his group’s annual report and to make a pitch.

"First, I wanted you to know we’ve certainly had a good relationship in the past," Ruzek said.

Then he continued, noting that while Austin continues to expand, a need for parkland is being met, but the need for tree-planting is not.

"There’s a need for trees," Ruzek said. "There’s a need for landscaping the area.

"We can spend $50,000 a year on flowers and $7,000 on trees. I think we need to take a hard look at that."

Carmel Taylor of Austin Utilities came to report her findings of electrical and water use at the nature center.

Taylor advised the board members that there are plenty of places at the nature center where heat is escaping.

"You need to replace virtually every door out there and weatherstrip it all," Taylor said.

She also made recommendations on how to use less electricity for lighting, such as having occupancy sensors in the bathrooms.

Theresa Arnold came to express her concerns that the outside ice rink and warming house near Neveln Elementary School isn’t open enough and might not be open at all next year.

Last, but certainly not least, a varied group came to express concerns about the proposed development of 55 acres west of the nature center.

Similar arguments were heard against the development, planned by the Greater Minnesota Affordable Housing Co., as have been heard in meetings before, from sewer troubles to concerns of crowding.

Several people made the suggestion that the nature center and the city look for grant monies to buy all the as-yet unoccupied land around the center to create wildlife corridors between the center and Todd Park.

While the members of the board wouldn’t commit to a course of action, they said they would think about it.