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 Nine acres of property formerly owned by Lee and Laurel Anderson have been added it to an expanded Patrick Eagan Park off of Lexington Avenue in central Eagan thanks to an extraordinary partnership between citizens, civic organizations, and city, county and state government.
The park is now 117 acres. At a celebration on Tuesday, July 13, participants took down a section of fencing to symbolize the preservation of open space within Eagan. “There’s something in the human spirit that doesn’t like fences,” said Eagan Mayor Pat Geagan.
Geagan thanked the Friends of the Eagan Core Greenway, the Trust for Public Land (TPL), a national nonprofit land conservation organization, the Dakota County Farmland and Natural Areas Program and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and the City Council for each coming together to acquire and preserve the land.
“We wanted to preserve this land in its natural and undeveloped setting,” said Lee Anderson, who commented that he and his wife had received many offers to develop their land over the years.
The complex deal to acquire and preserve the open space involved more than a year of work from the city, the Friends of the Eagan Core Greenway, the Trust for Public Lands, Dakota County, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, and the Legislative Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCMR).
The nine acres were purchased for $900,000 with $180,000 coming from Eagan’s Park Site Fund, nearly $350,000 from the DNR’s Natural and Scenic Area program, more than $270,000 from the referendum passed by Dakota County for the Farmland and Natural Area program, and $100,000 from a Metro Greenway Grant obtained by the Friends of the Eagan Core Greenway. The State legislature, through the LCMR provided funds for the two DNR grant programs.
“Due to the multiple state and local resources providing funding, we have been able to take our first important step towards preservation. Let’s now pause to celebrate,” said Susan Gauer of the Friends of the Eagan Core Greenway, but she urged lawmakers “to continue to fund these important initiatives that preserve our open spaces for generations to come.”
“The addition of this land to Patrick Eagan Park is a vivid example of how local conservation can have a powerful impact on a community’s quality of life,” noted TPL project manager, Bob McGillivray. “Patrick Eagan Park is a success story for other Minnesota communities striving to create parks for people to enjoy.”
"Our successful county open space referendum benefited greatly from the awareness and support generated by many citizens like those who have been working on protecting the Eagan Core Greenway,” said Dakota County Commissioner Nancy Schouweiler. “Their commitment, and the important contributions from the partners,” she added, “once again demonstrates how much more we can accomplish when we work together.”
“State programs like the Natural and Scenic Area program and Metro Greenways Program provide important funding assistance to local governments to help them protect key open space areas,” explained Audrey Mularie, Local Grants Manager for the DNR. Currently such programs “enable the State to partner with local governments and private organizations to achieve common goals of natural resource protection,” Mularie said.
The goal of everyone was to protect and expand the habitat, contribute to the greenway corridor, and preserve the buffer between the trails and busy Lexington Avenue. The Friends of the Eagan Core Greenway had the idea to preserve the Anderson parcel and sought to involve other partners. The North Star Chapter of the Sierra Club identified key regional resources. City staff spent well over 120 hours to develop and submit a grant application to the DNR and preparing a detailed natural resource management plan. The Trust for Public Land prepared and submitted grant proposals, helped facilitate the acquisition by securing and paying for an appraiser. TPL also aided in the technical review by commenting on the grant draft, and facilitated legal and financial discussions among the partners.
Going forward the Anderson’s residence will remain a two-acre parcel owned by the couple. The City will be responsible for annually inspecting the new parkland and removing invasive plants, monitoring and cleaning up storm damage, removing refuse and solving erosion problems. Once a master plan for the entire park is completed, some restoration of vegetation may be necessary. The total cost of the monitoring and managing this land over the next ten years is estimated to be nearly $70,000.
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Other Contacts:
Dakota County
Al Singer, Manager
Farmland and Natural Area Program
14955 Galaxie Avenue
Apple Valley, MN 55124
(952) 891-7001
al.singer@co.dakota.mn.us
Friends of the Eagan Core Greenway
Jack Conrad, Co-Chair
(651)-683-9380 (Res.)
(651)-687-4960 (Work)
www.EaganCoreGreenway.org
Minnesota DNR
Audrey Mularie
Grants Manager
DNR Local Grants Program
651-296-4705
www.dnr.state.mn.us
Trust for Public Land
Tom Evers
Senior Public Affairs Manager
651-999-5322 (office)
651-341-3598 (cell)
www.tpl.org
tom.evers@tpl.org/minnesota
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