Three years after Washington County voters approved a bond referendum to raise $20 million to preserve open spaces, no land has been acquired and some quiet outrage is brewing among conservationists who framed the referendum.

"It seems to me that voters were clear on what they wanted to see happen," said Tom Lewanski, conservation director of Friends of the Mississippi River, one of the advocacy groups. "The county board seems to be unclear about how to proceed."

The Land and Water Legacy -- 61 percent of the vote favored it in 2006 -- permits the county's five commissioners to issue bonds to buy and protect high-quality land that might otherwise fall under a developer's plow. Although the county has ranked eight properties near the St. Croix River, and even did appraisals on some of them, commissioners voted late last year not to fund the program. Support for next year seems wobbly at best.

In 2002, Dakota County voters approved a similar measure and has acquired permanent easements on about 6,000 acres of land, meeting the county's goal of protecting 5,000 to 10,000 acres to improve water quality and preserve open space and natural habitat. The Minnehaha Watershed District in Hennepin County recently passed an open spaces referendum, as has the city of Woodbury.

In Washington County, frustration is growing among landowners who began negotiating with the county two years ago, Lewanski said. And another conservationist, Susan Schmidt of the Trust for Public Land, said, "We are first and foremost disappointed and concerned" that commissioners haven't acted on the voters' wishes.

"I'm anxious to ask them again, 'What are the questions and what are the hurdles and how can we help?' " Schmidt said of the commissioners. "It's about protecting land and water, which is what the voters were saying."

Commissioners voted 3-2 in late September to add a 1 percent tax -- $850,000 or about $8 per $250,000 household -- to next year's levy to pay for the bonds. That vote is preliminary to a final vote in December, however, and commissioners argued about whether the program should be funded during a time of economic distress. Bill Pulkrabek delivered the strongest declaration of support, but he wanted equivalent cuts in the county budget to pay for the legacy program. Dennis Hegberg and Gary Kriesel also voted in favor, but said that ongoing economic problems concerned them.

Commissioner Myra Peterson, the board chair, said that conservation groups sold the county on the referendum and that commissioners "just put it on the ballot," although they voted unanimously to do so. She said times have changed, and that she hears from constituents in her "bread and butter district" of south Washington County that now's not the time to spend money for open spaces.

Let's 'maximize public dollars'

"We keep looking at how we can maximize public dollars," said Peterson, who with Commissioner Lisa Weik voted against funding the program for next year. "We've got some fairly significant parcels of land we're dealing with, and they have some significant price tags attached to them."

Responsibility for coordinating potential land purchases falls to Jane Harper, the county's principal planner, who said landowners are feeling edgy.

"They're anxious to get a dollar figure," Harper said. "They all think that the land should be protected, but they also aren't going to sell out. The money's going to speak. They're struggling with it, because they don't necessarily want to develop but they won't give us a bargain either."

Harper and Peterson recently appealed to the Legislative Citizen Commission of Minnesota Resources, which decides the allocation of state environmental trust fund money, for $3 million to help with land purchases in Washington County. One of the panel members asked why the county wanted state money when it hadn't spent its own.

Peterson replied that the county didn't want to buy property while land values continue to fall. In a later interview, she declined to comment about specific land costs, but said that land in the Cottage Grove area where she lives had fallen in value from about $150,000 an acre three years ago to about $57,000 an acre now.

But Schmidt said it's risky to wait longer to buy land, and said some prices might be climbing soon.

"This is an exceptional time for conservation in Minnesota," she said. "Most of us in conservation feel we're at a critical crossroads, an opportune time."

Lewanski said he can't in good conscience recommend Washington County's legacy program to landowners if the county subjects them to endless negotiations without buying land.

"These are not light decisions by the landowner," he said. "They make heart-wrenching decisions about their property."

Washington County will know this week whether it will receive the requested state money. Peterson said the county has no deals ready to go. Harper, however, said preparatory work has been done.

"We want to help them row this boat down the river," Lewanski said. "However, the county's oar isn't in the water."

Kevin Giles • 612-673-4432