Adding land to the J.

Friday, February 02, 2001

Adding land to the J.C. Hormel Nature Center topped a discussion Wednesday night between the Austin Park and Recreation Board and members of the Friends of the Nature Center.

"The Friends brought a list of concerns for us to discuss," Dennis Maschka, city parks and recreation director, said. "We’re trying to focus on the nature center and what it will look like in 20, 25 years."

Wednesday’s meeting was set up to discuss the ideas and concerns of Friends members. No action was taken, nor will any action be taken for some time, Maschka explained.

"We talked about acquiring the land to the north," Maschka said. "There’s six acres that would be the primary concern. Plus there’s 11 acres of adjoining land that would be secondary."

He felt the general consensus of the Friends was to obtain the land and expand the nature center.

Use of the land also was discussed.

"They’re probably looking at prairie restoration," Maschka said. Other ideas also were discussed. "It was kind of a nebulous discussion."

One resident citizen also asked about the land to the west.

"The concerned citizen asked the Friends for money for the land to the west," Maschka said. Using that area of land to build housing was voted down in a referendum in November. Some citizens would like that land to be used by the nature center to prevent further development in the area.

"We also talked about the bike trail," Maschka added.

Friends and board members brainstormed about how the Shooting Star Trail would connect with the nature center. There were plenty of ideas floating around at the meeting, from bringing the trail directly through a portion of the nature center, to adding a spur to the trail that would link the Shooting Star Trail to the nature center.

"It was agreed that it should end up there somehow," Maschka said.

There still are plenty more meetings to be held before decisions will be made regarding the future of the nature center, Maschka added. Although no date has been set, he said there’s sure to be another meeting by the end of the month.