Open Space and Andover

The headline in this week's Anoka County Union:  "City Adds 20 Acres of Open Space" is a continuing positive development in Andover, and a recognition that what voters approved in 2006 can be realized by thoughtful decision from the Open Space Advisory Commission and the City Council.

Here is an excerpt from that article:

Andover will be protecting another property from future development, which is an initiative voters signed off on in 2006.

The Andover City Council Tuesday night unanimously approved spending $320,000 to buy a 20.6-acre parcel east of Hanson Boulevard and north of 161st Avenue.

The property has been referred to as White Pine Wilderness and had been approved for urban housing development, according to a March 2010 new residential development map. It is immediately east of an already developed neighborhood.

http://abcnewspapers.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=13688&Itemid=26

 

Hope and Jeff Luedtke previously donated a parcel of property by the Rum River, and now Karen and Lawrence Emmerich have donated this property, which lies between homes developed at 161st and Crane and 161st and Wintergreen.  I drive by this parcel all the time, and this will will be a fine preservation of land for use by our community and will be easily-accessible to the homeowners living betweeen Hanson and the rail line in that neighborhood.   Thank you to our property owners for recognizing Andover's future.

And thank you to the decision-makers who moved ahead in securing this latest property.

Making land available for Andover's future is an important choice.  As we continue to look at choices of what Andover looks like in 2020, 2030 and beyond, it will be a difficult balancing decision between the needs for housing developments, protecting Andover's traditional rural/farm community, and providing more Oopen Space choices.  This decision must always remain a choice for our land owners.  While these owners will continue to be paid well for their land, there may be an offset of potentially greater future benefits for the same land.  This choice must remain voluntary, it can not be coerced.  Someday, having Open Space may be at a premium, and those owners should never be put in a position of doing so for the community good at their own persaonal expense.  Hopefully there will always be fair value and intrinsic gain associated with selling land to be protected as Andover Open Space.

If you want to know more about the Open Space Advisory Commission, please use this link:
http://www.ci.andover.mn.us/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC=%7B02DD7137-2F73-4D34-91C5-AAF9627F114A%7D&DE=%7B72D2803B-D486-4EE3-9EC7-D986AD242525%7D

The FAQ is informative:
http://files.andovermn.net/pdfs/Commissions/OSAC-FAQ.pdf

The Citizen's Guide to "Protecting Your Open Space" is informative - and an excellent starting point:
http://files.andovermn.net/pdfs/Planning/Open%20Space/ProtectingYourOpenSpace-Andover.pdf


This is an example of good, efficient government services that we receive in Andover.  I appreciate what Mr. Bednarz, the City Planner, and his staff have done in preparing very accessible resources for this community.  These are the types of services the City needs to commit to providing for Andover's future.